Red Flags - Lung Cancer

A Few Rays Of Sunshine

Fri, 12 Aug 2005 04:00:00 -0400

Lung cancer is definitely on everyone’s mind right now. Peter Jennings’ death on Aug. 7 was followed, two days later, by the news that Dana Reeve has been diagnosed with the deadly disease.

Statistics show that in both sexes, lung cancer is the chief cancer killer in the world. This year in the United States, it will kill about 90,000 men and 73,000 women. Sadly, between 70 and 80 percent will die within two years of diagnosis.

The Female Face Of Lung Cancer - Part 2

Sun, 24 Apr 2005 04:00:00 -0400

Lung Cancer: A Harrowing Journey

Part one here

Here is how one woman, a friend of mine, has dealt with the experience of lung cancer. She journeyed through the pluses and minuses of today’s health care system – the pluses of technology and some truly dedicated medical experts versus the minuses of “managed care” delays and denials, along with an occasional dose of medical mishap.

The Female Face Of Lung Cancer - Part 1

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 04:00:00 -0400

The statistics are so bad that the word “epidemic” is being used. Since 1950, the mortality rate for lung cancer among women has soared by a stunning 600 percent. But strangely enough, there is little public awareness that more women will die from lung cancer than any other form of the disease.

Jyoti Patel, MD, a thoracic oncologist and specialist in women’s lung cancer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, is speaking out. “Lung cancer causes more deaths among women than breast, uterine, and ovarian cancers combined.” Patel co-authored a report in the April 2004 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). (1) As the numbers rise, it appears clear that women could be more susceptible, more at risk than men.