- Surgery should be offered to more lung cancer patients

Survival among those lung cancer patients that is offered surgery  is so high that more patients should be offered this option. Research fellow Trond Eirik Strand at the Cancer Registry of Norway has studied surgical treatment of this cancer form, and his thesis shows a decline in deaths among those that get this treatment.

Around 2300 Norwegians are diagnosed with lung cancer annually, and figures from the Cancer Registery of Norway show that only around 10% of the patients are alive 5 years after they were diagnosed.

In his thesis Trond Eirik Strand shows that long time survival is much likely for patients offered surgery.

- In this group 46 % were alive five year after they were diagnosed, says Strand. 

Risk factors

Currently 17% of lung cancers are treated surgically. The threshold has been higher for this treatment and this is based on assessment of several risk factors. Most lung cancers have progressed too far when diagnosed.

A research group at the Cancer Registry of Norway has, based on new scientific results, recommended that more lung cancer patients should be offered operation.

- The study shows that other illnesses that affect the prognosis, high age, male sex, right sided tumor location, and larger surgical procedures were all risk factors for a post operative death, says Strand.

Changing smoking habits

Another study by Trond Eirik Strand examined prevalence of lung cancer among men and women aged 20 to 44. Strand finds an increasing number of lung cancers diagnosed among women in this age group. This can be linked to changing smoking habits at young age.

The study clearly shows that starting smoking in your teens may have serious health effects, even among relatively young people. It is therefore important to continue the effort to prevent smoking among teenagers, says Strand.