Iris Cole interviews Prof. Ido Wolf of Ichilov about the developments in the field of cancer (Walla system!)
Lung cancer is the number one cause of death in men and the second in women in Israel, according to recent data from the Ministry of Health.
Every year in Israel, about 3,000 new patients are diagnosed with lung cancer, and unfortunately, according to global and Israeli statistics, in 60 percent of the patients the cancer is discovered when it is already in a metastatic state, spread and difficult to treat.
It is important to note that, like other diseases, lung cancer also varies from person to person.
Some lung cancer tumors are related to smoking and some are not, some carry mutations and some are very sensitive to treatments that mobilize the immune system.
Fortunately, through genomic tests that are in the basket and help to detect genetic changes in the tumor, it is possible to choose the most appropriate treatment method for each person.
So how is this common and dangerous cancer diagnosed and how is it treated?
Here is the full guide.
What causes lung cancer?
About 80 percent of lung cancer patients are current or former smokers, which means that it is a cancer that can be prevented if you quit smoking.
Other risk factors are radon, air pollution, harmful dust, and other rare factors.
What are the symptoms of the disease?
In all types of lung cancer, it is a silent disease.
The symptoms will appear, in most cases, only in an advanced stage of the disease.
The symptoms in an advanced state are: shortness of breath, prolonged fatigue, hoarseness, weight loss, sometimes a bloody cough that lasts for several weeks or months.
Are the symptoms too familiar to you?
Don't wait, come check it out.
What types of lung cancer are there?
85 percent of patients will develop non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Other types are small cell lung cancer (SCLC), which tends to spread more widely and more quickly.
There are also benign tumors, or on the border of benign, such as carcinoid lung tumors that develop at a slow rate, and rarer types.
What are the chances of recovering from lung cancer?
Despite the many breakthroughs in lung cancer treatment, and the ability to cure lung cancer even when the disease is diagnosed in a metastatic state, the 5-year survival rate among lung cancer patients is still very low.
The earlier the disease is detected, the greater the chance of saving the patient.
This is why we acted in the lung cancer association, together with many health officials in Israel, with the determination to include in the health basket the test for early diagnosis of lung cancer.
The test is done by CT imaging with a low dose of radiation, and is intended for the population at high risk of lung cancer, including people over the age of 50 to 74, who have smoked for 30 years, at least one pack a day.
or for 15 years two boxes a day.
The test is intended for actual smokers as well as for quitters.
In the era of chemotherapy, we were talking about a 12-14 month life extension, and a survival of 2-5 percent in patients with metastatic lung cancer.
Today, thanks to innovative treatments, we know that many patients will recover or live alongside their illness for many years.
Imaging of the lungs of a lung cancer patient (Photo: ShutterStock)
When should you go to check your lungs?
In addition to the need to review the risk population that does not suffer from symptoms, it is especially important to find out if a tumor has been suspected.
The diagnosis includes a biopsy to find out the type of tumor, and additional imaging tests to examine the extent of its spread.
In view of the enormous importance of early diagnosis, a rapid diagnostic service for patients suspected of cancer in general and lung cancer in particular was established at Shaare Zedek Hospital.
Similar centers exist in a number of similar tertiary hospitals.
It is recommended to contact those centers in any such suspicion.
How is lung cancer treated?
We have at our disposal new treatments that have changed the face of treatment, the survival of patients, and the quality of their lives.
In recent years, biological and immunotherapy treatments have joined the lung cancer treatment arsenal.
When choosing the type of treatment, patients who smoke will usually be offered a therapeutic phase that includes immunotherapy treatments.
For most patients who do not smoke, biological treatment can often be adjusted according to the way the disease manifests.
The characterization of the tumor tissue is an initial adjustment condition and is a critical step in the construction of the treatment plan, therefore it is important to proceed as quickly as possible, with personal involvement in the process of adjusting the individual treatment.
The biological treatments focus on blocking a very precise pathway of the tumor tissue in patients whose tumor is targeted, with very fast and good results.
The immunotherapy treatments, which also show high percentages of effectiveness, are intended for a population that is characterized by a very large tumor variability, such as the population of smokers.
In these patients, the disease is not targeted, and some tumors secrete proteins that block or interfere with the immune system's action.
In this situation, the immunotherapy drugs "educate" the immune system to recognize the cancer cells and act against the tumor until it is eliminated.
And there are some other important things to know about lung cancer:
How did a 20-year-old who never smoked get advanced lung cancer?
5 things that can cause lung cancer and they are not smoking and
we will end with a new and encouraging study.
A study published in the prestigious medical magazine New England Journal of medicine proves that the introduction of the treatment with an immunotherapy drug even before the surgery to remove the tumor, eliminates the cancer cells in patients diagnosed with lung cancer.
In the study, it was found that the administration of an immunotherapy drug in combination with chemotherapy results in the disappearance of the tumor in about a quarter of the patients, and increases the chance of eliminating the cancer cells 14 times. In addition, it was found in the study that in about 40 percent of the subjects the tumor is small.
Have you been diagnosed?
The Israeli Lung Cancer Association is at the disposal of patients and families
Prof. Nir Peled is the director of the oncology department and the Helmsley Cancer Center at Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem, the chairman of the Israeli Lung Cancer Association
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