INDIANAPOLIS — Every two-and-a-half minutes, someone in the United States is diagnosed with lung cancer.
Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of both men and women in the United States. However, awareness remains critically low, especially in women.
Only 3 percent of women consider lung cancer a top health concern, but pulmonologist Michael Busk says when looking at the total number of cancers that affect women, lung cancer is the No. 1 killer of women for cancers.
Busk is the system executive of the St. Vincent Health, Wellness and Preventive Care Institute. He also serves on the board of directors of the American Lung Association.
Busk says part of the reason lung cancer is so deadly is because by the time it’s diagnosed, it’s often too late.
"We talk about stages, stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4. Your stage 1 and stage 2 may have no symptoms at all. That's the insidious part of lung cancer,” said Busk.
Stage 3 and 4 symptoms could be a cough that doesn't go away, coughing up blood, loss of appetite, losing weight, fatigue and malaise.
By stage 4, the cancer starts to metastasize and you may experience bone pain.
The main cause of lung cancer in the United States is tobacco. Research has shown over and over again that tobacco use puts you at the highest risk.
Busk says there are people that develop lung cancer who have never smoked. That population is growing in women.
Exposure to radon, second-hand smoke and radiation also increase your risk of developing lung cancer.
Preventative Care
The good news is that lung cancer can be screened with a low-dose CT scan.
If it is caught before it spreads, the likelihood of surviving 5 years or more improves to 56%.
There are 8 million people in the U.S. that qualify as high risk for lung cancer. This means they can receive a life-saving CT scan.
Dr. Busk says if everyone eligible received a scan, 25,000 lives could be saved.
A person is considered high risk for lung cancer if they are between 55 and 80 years old, have a 30 pack-year history, and are a current smoker or quit in the last 15 years.
Pack years are the amount of tobacco a person has used.
If you smoked one pack a day for 30 years, then you have a 30 pack year history. If you smoked 2 packs a day for 15 years, then you also have a 30 pack year history.
The screening is part of the U.S. preventative health guidelines. Medicare covers it 100 percent and most insurance companies cover it as well.
If you are not sure if you qualify, the American Lung Association offers a lung cancer screening eligibility quiz as part of their Saved by the Scan initiative: Screening Eligibility Quiz
Busk says if lung cancer is caught at stage 1 or 2 it is curable. New advances in medicine is also providing increased survival for those in stage 3 and 4.
New Concerns
A new concern for experts in relation to lung cancer is vaping.
The American Lung Association and several other public health partners recently filed a suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decision that allows electronic cigarettes, including candy-flavored products that appeal to kids, to stay on the market for years without being reviewed by the FDA.
Dr. Busk says the Lung Association is extremely concerned about the increase of young people using the products.
The mid-to-long-term impacts of the use of vaping products is not yet known, but
"From the perspective that vaping has a direct link to lung cancer, we don't have the research studies to answer that question,” said Dr. Busk.
But, medical professionals are worried about the long-term effects vaping will have on people’s lungs.
"Are we concerned? Absolutely. Because anytime you inhale a high concentration of any kind of particulate matter or any kind of vapor into your lungs... it's not good,” said Busk.
Busk believes that use of e-cigarettes, vaporizers and juuls could lead a person to use tobacco in the future. "The concern is the next step is the nicotine becomes an addiction and leads to tobacco and cigarettes which we know is definitely a direct link to lung cancer,” he said.
