Lung Cancer

Despite having less smokers, lung cancer cases will increase over the coming decade. Dr Niamh Logan and Dr Parthiban Nadarajan – Department of Respiratory Medicine, St James' Hospital – break down our approach to curbing the disease C ancer is the leading cause of death in Ireland. Cancer-related deaths accounted for 31% of all deaths in Ireland in 2016, while cardiovascular disease accounted for 30% of all deaths for the same year. Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, accounting for 22% and 20% of cancer deaths in males and females respectively. 1 This amounts to approximately 2,500 new cases of lung cancer diagnosed each year and approximately 1,800 deaths each year as a consequence of lung cancer. 2 In Ireland, lung cancer is the second most common cancer among women (behind breast cancer) and the third most common cancer in men (behind prostate and bowel cancers). The incidence in men is slightly hi...

Dresser, Wisconsin may be a small community — but they know to turn out big when one of their own is in need.  Saturday, Peace Lutheran Church was packed with people there for a plate of spaghetti and silent auction. But it was the guest of honor the brought out the crowd. Jenni Tacheny, a mother of four daughters, is battling a rare form of skin cancer, desmoplastic melanoma. "It came out of nowhere. I mean really it did, you know," Sheri Anderson, Jenni's mother said.  Tacheny first found lumps in her arm and was told by three different dermatologists she had nothing to worry about.  "It's not all about looking for moles," Tachney said. Justin Duhn/KSTP Her cancer never presented itself in the way dermatologists typically warn about. But when persistent headaches sent her back to the doctor, that's when they found the brain tumor. Her cancer had metastasized to Stage Four.  "Jenni joined hospice about t...

While H. pylori can increase an individual's risk of developing stomach cancer, Cancer Research UK says the bacterial infection "will not cause any problems and it can be treated" for most people. Other factors that can increase a person's risk of stomach cancer are age, gender, the presence of some stomach conditions, and a family history of the disease. Men over the age of 50 are most at risk in this regard while long-term acid reflux, gastritis and pernicious anaemia, a condition that affects the immune system, all increase a person's risk of cancer. Although this sounds unnerving, just because a person has these conditions does not mean they will get cancer with lifestyle habits such as how much or if a person smokes, how much they exercise and their diet affecting the risk.

Lentigo maligna melanoma is a relatively uncommon form of skin cancer that tends to affect older individuals. It develops from lentigo maligna, also known as Hutchinson's melanotic freckle, which is a slow growing type of melanoma. This cancer typically starts on the surface of the skin on parts of the body that get exposed to too much sun, which tend to include the face, forearms, and neck. When the cancer goes beneath the surface of the skin, it becomes lentigo maligna melanoma. Lentigo maligna melanoma is an aggressive form of cancer that is faster growing than lentigo maligna and may spread to other areas of the body. In this article, we look at the signs and symptoms of lentigo maligna melanoma, as well as the causes and risk factors. We also discuss its diagnosis and the available treatment options. Lentigo maligna melanoma typically presents as a dark mole that changes in shape, color, or size. Initially, it tends to appear as an irregular brown macule or lesion on the head...

A bout with cancer left this woman without a tongue — until she got a new one made from her leg. Surgeons took skin and muscle from the woman's thigh to re-create the part of her tongue lost to her rare infection of squamous cell carcinoma. Cameron Newsom, 42, had half her tongue removed in an effort to fight cancer after dealing with excruciating pain post-diagnosis in 2013. "At the time of my diagnosis, I'd lost over seven pounds because I was unable to eat or drink," Newsom, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, told Newsflare. "I was 33 at the time and in very good shape, so I couldn't understand why this was happening to me." It all started after she noticed white spots on her tongue and her dentist recommended a biopsy for the painless spot. Despite coming back negative for cancer, she developed another spot a year later. But, again, the results were negative. Then, the pain began. ...

Fifteen firefighters are seeking compensation for illnesses they allege more than two dozen American companies contributed to by using so-called "forever chemicals" in their workplace gear. The firefighters — who worked in Worcester, Norwood, Brockton, Fall River and Boston — discovered last December that their blood contained elevated levels of PFAS chemicals, according to a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts federal court Wednesday. The plaintiffs argued the chemicals seeped into their bodies after years of wearing protective clothing and using firefighting foam that contained PFAS. The lawsuit blamed PFAS as a "substantial factor and proximate cause of the cancers, serious illnesses and bodily injuries" the firefighters, some of whom are now retired, suffered. All 15 reported having some form of cancer: prostate cancer, malignant melanoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Hodgkin's lymphoma. The firefighters, along with the spous...

Julie Renee Brahmer, MD, MSc, discusses the issues with using tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immunotherapy in patients with locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer. Julie Renee Brahmer, MD, MSc, director of the thoracic oncology program and professor of oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, discusses the issues with using tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and immunotherapy (IO) in patients with locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). According to Brahmer, sequencing therapies for locally advanced NSCLC is limited by data that show using TKIs following IO can lead to serious toxicities in patients. In addition, studies of stage IV disease also indicate that patients with the subtypes EGFR , ALK , ROS1 , HER2 , and RET generally do not respond to single-agent IO, leaving fewer options for patients resistant to targeted therapy. Based on retrospective studies, patients with stage IV adenocarcinoma with a KRAS mutation had...