About Lung Cancer Survival Rates

Significance

Sixty percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer die within 1 year. This means that 3 out of every 5 people who get lung cancer do not survive. This is a staggering statistic when you consider that in 2008 alone, 215,020 new cases of lung cancer were diagnosed in the United States. The same year there were 161,840 deaths from lung cancer.

The National Cancer Institute spent $226.9 million on lung cancer research in 2007. This is nothing compared to the amount spent on treatment for lung cancer in the US each year. For example, $9.6 billion was spent in 2004 on lung cancer treatment in this country. The incidence of lung cancer peaked in 1993 in the United States and has been slowly decreasing since.

There are two main types of lung cancer. The least common is small cell lung cancer. This is also called oat cell carcinoma. Usually only the heaviest smokers contract this kind of lung cancer. The other type is non-small cell lung cancer of which there are several varieties including sqamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and large cell carcenoma. The best chance for survival is if the cancer is detected in its earliest stages when it first begins in the lining of the lungs.

Symptoms of lung cancer include a new cough which does not go away or a change in a cough that has been chronic, like a smoker's cough. According to the Mayo Clinic, if you cough blood, even if it is a very small amount, tell your doctor who will probably screen you for lung cancer. Shortness of breath, chest pain, wheezing and hoarseness are other symptoms of lung cancer (see Resources below).

You may be at risk for contracting lung cancer even if you have never smoked tobacco. Women who smoke are even more likely than men who smoke to get the disease, even though African American males are the group with the largest incidence of lung cancer, followed by white males. Secondhand smoke, where you live or work with people who are always smoking, is another risk factor for lung cancer. So is exposure to certain toxins such as radon gas, asbestos, arsenic, chromium, nickel and tar soot. The other factors that can increase your risk of lung cancer are a family history of the disease and drinking alcohol to excess.

If your doctor suspects that you may have lung cancer, the first thing to be done is a screening followed by a biopsy. Surgery may be possible, but if the cancer is accompanied by fluid in your chest or if the cancer has metastisized (moved to other part of the body), it may be inoperable. Other treatment includes chemotherapy and radiation. However, if it is unlikely that any of the treatment will actually improve the patient's quality of life or cure the cancer, since the survival rate is only 40 percent, many lung cancer patients whose disease is not diagnosed until it has entered one of the later stages are referred to hospice care.