New treatment for lung cancer prolongs length of life

BOWLING GREEM, Ky.-November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and Kentucky has the highest rates of lung cancer in the entire country. 

Kentucky also has the highest incidence of people who smoke. 90% of lung cancer is related to smoking. 

Early signs are coughing that doesn’t go away in a few weeks, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, and sudden weight loss. 

But there are new forms of treatment…like immunotherapy which takes the patient’s own immune system to fight the cancer. Other treatments include target therapy and pills with low toxicity. 

“If you do have lung cancer, it’s not a death sentence. People hear the diagnosis of lung cancer and they don’t want to do anything. There’s a lot that can be done, it’s a very different picture than it was five years ago,” said Dr. Hamm, the Medical Director of the Research Office at Norton Cancer Institute.  

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the nation….making up 25% of all cancer deaths. If you are a smoker, or have smoked, please get screened.