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#Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines

According to figures from the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), 21,220 people died in 2014 due to lung cancer (17,173 men and 4,047 women), making it the highest cancer-causing death in men and the third highest in women (after breast and colon).

At a global level it is the most common cancer and is directly related to tobacco use. Only 16% of lung cancers are diagnosed at an early stage.

What is lung cancer?

Lung cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancerous) cells form in the tissues of the lung.

 

There are two main types of lung cancer:

 

• Non-microcytic (or non-small cell lung cancer): represents around 80% to 85% of lung cancers. The three main types of non-small cell lung cancer are adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and large cell carcinoma.

 

• Microcytic (or small cell lung cancer): represents around 10% to 15% of lung cancers.

How does it usually start?

The majority of lung cancers do not cause any symptoms until they have spread, but there are some people with lung cancer who do present symptoms at an early stage. If you go to the doctor when you begin to notice symptoms, it is possible for the cancer to be diagnosed at an earlier stage, when it is likely that treatment will be more effective.

 

The majority of these symptoms may also occur for a reason other than lung cancer. However, if you have any of these problems it is important to visit your doctor immediately, so that the cause can be determined and you can be given any necessary treatment.
 
 

The most common symptoms of lung cancer are:

 

• A cough that doesn’t go away or which worsens.
• Coughing up blood or sputum (saliva or phlegm) which is rust coloured.
• Chest pain which often gets worse when you breathe deeply, cough or laugh.
• A hoarse voice.
• Weight loss and loss of appetite, shortness of breath.
• Feeling tired or weak.
• Infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia which don’t go away or which keep coming back.
  Onset of wheezing (whistling sound in the chest).

 
 

When lung cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it can cause:
 

• Bone pain (such as pain in the back or hips).
• Nervous system problems (such as headache, weakness and numbness in an arm or leg, dizziness, balance problems or seizures) as a result of the cancer spreading to the brain.
• Yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice) due to spread of the cancer to the liver.
• Lumps close to the surface of the body due the spread of cancer to the skin or to the lymph glands (collection of immune system cells), such as those presented in the neck or on the collar bone.

What are the risk factors?

• Cigarette smoking is the main risk factor for lung cancer, and is linked to about 80 to 90% of lung cancer cases.

 

• Use of tobacco products such as cigars and pipes, also increases the risk of lung cancer. Tobacco smoke is a deadly mix of 7,000 chemical substances, many of them toxic. We know of at least 70 which cause cancer in people and animals.

 

• Those who smoke cigarettes are between 15 and 30 times more likely to develop lung cancer or die from this disease than those who don’t smoke. Even smoking a few cigarettes a day, or just occasionally, increases the risk of lung cancer. The risk increases with the number of years a person smokes and with the number of cigarettes smoked a day.

 

• Those who stop smoking have a lower risk of lung cancer than if they had continued to smoke, but still have a higher risk than those who have never smoked. Stopping smoking at any age can reduce the risk of lung cancer.

 

• Smoking cigarettes can cause cancer in nearly all parts of the body including the mouth and throat, oesophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, liver, pancreas, larynx, trachea, bronchi, kidney and renal pelvis, bladder and cervix and can also cause acute myeloid leukaemia.

What methods are used to detect it?

While there are screening programs which have the consensus of the scientific community in regard to their usefulness, such as mammography in the case of breast cancer, or pap smears in the case of cervical cancer, there are many more doubts as to whether CT (computed tomography) is a cost-effective practice for lung cancer screening in heavy smokers when compared to the benefits this could provide.

 

Unfortunately as a result, these new patients who number more than 20,000 a year, are often diagnosed at an advanced stage, when the disease has spread outside the lungs, with metastatic disease. The treatment that we can then give is already not as curative as might be possible with breast cancer.

 

At HC Marbella, following the guidelines of the American Lung Association, depending on your age and the number of years you have smoked, our doctors may recommend undergoing lung cancer screening tests.

 

Así, las personas entre las 55 y 74 años sin antecedentes de cáncer y que han fumado al menos un paquete de cigarrillos por día durante 30 años (un marcador conocido como 30 años de paquete), y que actualmente fuman o ha dejado de fumar en los últimos 15 años y tiene una salud relativamente buena deberían realizarse un TAC helicoidal de baja dosis una vez al año durante un total de tres años.

HC Marbella International Hospital

En HC Marbella reconocemos la importancia que tiene evaluar el riesgo de cáncer y de detectar la enfermedad tempranamente, cuando existe la mayor posibilidad de una cura.

 

Those people between the ages of 55 and 74, with no history of cancer, who have smoked at least one packet of cigarettes a day for 30 years (a marker known as 30 pack-years), and who continue to smoke, or have stopped smoking in the last 15 years and who are in relatively good health, should have a low-dose spiral CT, once a year for a total of three years.

 

La detección también es una parte esencial de la prevención y el cuidado del cáncer. Nuestros médicos han desarrollado pautas de detección para los cánceres más comunes: cáncer de mama, cervical, colorrectal, de cabeza y cuello, ovario, próstata, pulmón y piel, según nuestra experiencia en el tratamiento de pacientes en HC Marbella.