It seems that more young people in their 30s and 40s are being diagnosed. Are any studies looking at this and can they help younger patients?

“I'm not aware of data to show that more young people are being diagnosed with lung cancer,”  says Russell K. Hales, M.D., a radiation oncologist, at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. “But anecdotally, it is what I seem to be seeing as well.  What we tend to see in these younger patients with lung cancer, is specific changes like mutations or translocations with a much higher likelihood of responding to one of the targeted therapies.  That means they have a better outlook, because these targeted therapies tend to work, and tend to work well.”