I was diagnosed with restrictive lung disease. My mother and my cat died of lung cancer. I’m a non-smoker but worried about environmental issues. How likely is it that this will become lung cancer, and what would the treatment be?

“It's not just smoking that leads to lung cancer,” says Russell K. Hales, M.D. “ We know that environmental exposures and underlying lung disease can increase the likelihood of lung cancer. Unfortunately, in patients with restrictive lung disease, we don't have any information to show that screening those patients will increase the likelihood of finding […]

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What is ground glass opacity on the lung? Is it likely to be cancer and how do you determine whether it is or not?

“Not everything that arises in the lung is cancer,” says Russell K. Hales, M.D., a radiation oncologist, at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. “A nodule in the lung can be from infection, irritation, or inflammation. It can be from other diseases, unrelated to cancer at all.” Hales notes […]

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Chemotherapy advances pinpoint mutations for more personalized care

Chemotherapy is a systemic therapy, and “in the past, lung cancer treatment was really a one-size-fits-all care,” says Russell K. Hales, M.D.  “Thanks to advances in treatment, we’ve been able to transition to more personalized care.  We can assess the tumor for changes that can be targeted with customized therapy, also known as molecular profiling.  […]

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Advances in radiation therapy pinpoint tumors, reduce side effects and improve results

In patients who, with early stage lung cancer, the normal treatment is a surgery, says Russell K. Hales, M.D. “But some patients can't tolerate that surgery, and for them, we use radiation to treat their cancer.”  Over the past five years, three major areas of radiation therapy for lung cancer patients have seen important innovations […]

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New, less invasive way to evaluate lymph nodes helps patients at risk of lung cancer

A new, less invasive way to evaluate lymph nodes in patients at risk of lung cancer is finding more tumors within lymph nodes than previous procedures, says Russell K. Hales, M.D., a radiation oncologist, at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. To evaluate lymph nodes, lung cancer physicians traditionally […]

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New lung cancer screening with CT scans, tested at Hopkins, finds tumors earlier and saves lives

In many cancers, early screening has helped improve your chances of a successful outcome when cancer is detected. But lung cancer has not had that type of effective screening tool until last year,  says Russell K. Hales, M.D.,  a radiation oncologist at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus, a […]

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