Vanessa Wasta
Recent news of the full results of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) published in the New England Journal of Medicine underscores the heavy toll that lung cancer takes on many lives. It's still the deadliest of all cancers. For Phyllis Curtis, who had enrolled in the trial at Johns Hopkins, the trial and screening she received made the difference in spotting her lung cancer and receiving prompt treatment. Read the ABCNews.com story. Earlier this year, evidence indicated that lung cancer death rates in women are on the decline, following a trend seen in men. The hope is that a screening method can make further impact on death rates.
As for treating these cancers, Drs. Julie Brahmer and Susanna Ulahannan of Johns Hopkins, provided a brief review of available lung cancer treatments on EmpowHer.com. They describe drugs, including ones that target cancer blood vessels, that are approved and in development for lung cancer.
Finally, Dr. Charles Rudin, in our educational video series, C-Answers, describes how many lung cancer patients are benefitting from personalized approaches to treating their disease by searching for biomarkers that indicate whether a particular drug may work for them. Watch his video below.