Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in the U.S. In fact, lung cancer takes more lives than breast, prostate and colon cancers combined.
There is good news, though. Over the last 35 years, the overall survival rate for lung cancer patients has improved by about 5 percent.
Dr. Min Kim, thoracic surgeon at Houston Methodist, answers questions you may have about lung cancer screening, as well as advancements in how lung cancer is treated.
Q: Why is lung cancer screening so important?
Dr. Kim: The main reason for the poor overall survival rate for lung cancer is that by the time individuals with lung cancer see a doctor, the majority them have progressed to metastatic disease.
We have effective treatments for early stage lung cancer, but few effective treatments are available for patients with metastatic disease.
Recently, it was shown that using low-dose computed tomographic (CT) scans to screen individuals at higher risk of developing lung cancer reduces the chance of dying from lung cancer by 20 percent.
Q: Who is at higher risk for developing lung cancer?
Dr. Kim: I advocate that anyone who has a significant smoking history undergo a screening CT scan. This may help catch lung cancer earlier, when it is more easily treated via surgery.
In addition, I advocate that people should avoid smoking altogether. Recently, there’s been a decrease in the death rate from lung cancer — and this is due to a decrease in the number of smokers. If no one smokes, lung cancer can become a rare disease.
Q: How have surgical treatment options evolved?
Dr. Kim: For patients with early stage lung cancer, there are now minimally invasive approaches to treat lung cancer.
For instance, at Houston Methodist, we’re performing video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lung resection as well as robot-assisted lung resection. Both approaches provide our patients with significantly fewer complications, less pain and faster recovery compared to the traditional open surgery.