Yes, you read that title right. Intuitively, it makes sense. Quit smoking and you can decrease your chance of lung cancer. But, now, there is data out there that patients with early lung cancer - who quit smoking - not only increase their rate of survival - they can double their chances of survival. The article talking about they study is from the Associated Press entitled, "Smokers With Cancer Could Quit And Double Survival."
People with lung cancer who continued smoking had a 29 to 33 percent chance of surviving five years. But those who kicked the habit had a 63 to 70 percent chance of being alive after five years. The research was published Friday in the BMJ, formerly known as the British Medical Journal. Lung cancer is the top cancer worldwide, and the prognosis is usually poor. Only about 7 percent of patients make it to five years, though about 20 percent of patients are diagnosed early enough to be treated.I once thought (and a lot of patients thought) that when you are diagnosed with lung cancer - it doesn't matter if you quit smoking or not. I fully admit that I have never smoked, ever. I don't personally know how difficult it is to quit. But, I have a lot of patients, who I talk with every day, and, they tell me the struggles that they go through when they try to quit again, and again, and again. At least I can tell them that even if you are diagnosed with early lung cancer, there is data out there saying that it is still not too late to quit smoking....
"The message is you should never give up on giving up (smoking)," said Amanda Parsons, of the U.K. Centre for Tobacco Control Studies at the University of Birmingham, who led the study. "Even at the stage where you have been diagnosed with early stage lung cancer ... if you give up smoking, your body can still partially recover and your risk is reduced," she said.
7 comments:
I would think being diagnosed with lung cancer, or any type of disease really, would make people stop and think about ways to be healthier, but I do know they don't all do that. Sad, but you can't really make people care about themselves; they have to do that for themselves.
I'll vouch for it being difficult to quit. I actually do care about myself and my health, and still it's taken me years to manage to quit smoking. Today marks 10 months since I quit this time around -- the longest, most successful "quit" to date, so I have hopes that it will stick.
But more to the point, that's very interesting data, Dr. A! Gives me hope I haven't totally messed up my chances of living long enough to be a burden on my children... ;)
I don't get it- How can someone with lung cancer continue to smoke?! Are they waiting for death to come knocking at the door. I know quitting is a tough battle but not as tough as battling cancer!
Hello Dr. A. I am so happy to discover that you are still blogging. After a three year break I have just returned and have been looking in at many of those commented on my old blog, including yourself!
My new blog is at http;//todiscoverice.blogspot.com
Regards from Bazza!
Lung cancer is quiet a common disease. It ranks ranks second in the listing for the most widespread form of cancer in US. Smokers and non-smokers both can develop lung cancer. Common symptoms are: persistent cough, chest pain, puffiness in face, neck, weight reduction, exhaustion.
Smoking really kills. But still, many people cant resist to smoke because of the satisfaction that they get from it. Also, lung cancer is unavoidable to all smokers.
So, we need to atleast lessen the number of cigarettes we take daily. There should be a regular monitoring with our lungs and that is through ELISA kit. It is capable in detecting many diseases in our body.
There are now many ELISA kit manufacturer that are now growing in all parts of the world.
You should try using it now.
A person who smokes is ten times more likely to die from lung cancer than a non-smoker.
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