Lung Cancer

Myths and fears about cancer screening may be keeping some of your patients from important tests. Always ask about misconceptions, and then offer the facts.

ACP 2025: Lung cancer is rising among nonsmokers, especially women. Kim Sandler, MD, discusses future screening challenges, research insights, and the need to expand screening eligibility.

ACP 2025: Kim Sandler, MD, outlines key strategies to boost lung cancer screening uptake in primary care.

ACP 2025: Kim Sandler, MD, explains how primary care physicians can use shared decision-making to guide patients through lung cancer screening, emphasizing risk, benefit, follow-up, and smoking cessation.

ACP 2025: Kim Sandler, MD, sat down with Patient Care to discuss the benefits of lung cancer screening, citing a 20% reduction in lung cancer mortality with annual screenings.

World Cancer Day 2025 urges focus on the unique personal journey underlying every cancer diagnosis; individual recommendations for regular screening is where that can start.

Your daily dose of the clinical news you may have missed.

Among current smokers, 71% had never spoken a clinician about screening and among those who had quit, 75% had never had a conversation.

Your daily dose of the clinical news you may have missed.

Simple criteria for lung cancer screening identified more people who would highly benefit, including more from racial/ethnic minority groups.

Researchers observed substantial disparities in burden by cancer type, age group, countries/territories, and a country's level of Human Development Index.

Over 4 million cancer deaths have been reverted since 1991, but new cancer cases are estimated to reach over 2 million, according to new data from an annual American Cancer Society report.

After early natural (vs surgical) menopause, women who continued to smoke had 4.5-fold greater risk of lung cancer and related mortality, report study authors.

CHEST 2021: Among >7000 veterans diagnosed with lung cancer and scheduled for surgery, seeing a primary care doctor was linked to pre-operative quitting.

New research presented at the virtual European Respiratory Society International Congress showed "social smokers" are more than twice as likely to die of lung disease vs non-smokers.

The proposed recommendations will allow more women and black patients to be eligible for lung cancer screening.

Nicotine amounts aren't constant among cigar brands Even smokers of the same brand may be exposed to varying doses of nicotine and other smoke constituents.

Infections with pneumonia send a substantial number of older adults to the hospital, much more than younger adults. Researchers are calling for new rapid diagnostic tests.

I was “foggy” on when and how to apply screens for lung cancer with low-dose CT, but a perfect model for a 3-question template provided answers.

Congestive heart failure and cirrhosis are the most common causes of transudative pleural effusions, while pneumonia and malignancy are responsible for the majority of exudative effusions. Plain chest films are valuable in confirming the presence of an effusion, providing clues to the cause, and directing the method of pleural fluid sampling. Thoracentesis is safe and simple, and it is diagnostic in about 75% of cases. Pleural biopsy is indicated for unexplained exudative effusions, most of which are found to result from malignancy or tuberculosis. Medical thoracoscopy, if available, is the procedure of choice for patients with these effusions. Thoracoscopy permits visually directed pleural biopsies and allows for therapeutic intervention at the time of diagnosis, obviating the need for subsequent invasive procedures.

A 57-year-old man requests an extensive medical evaluation as part of a transition in the ownership of his business. He is generally healthy, although he reports that his capacity for physical exertion has diminished over the past several years. He denies chest pain with effort, dyspnea at night or on exertion, cough, and sputum production.

abstract: Hemoptysis has many causes, including bronchiectasis, lung cancer, and bronchitis. The initial goals of the history and physical examination are to differentiate hemoptysis from epistaxis and hematemesis and then to establish its severity. A variety of signs and symptoms may suggest the underlying cause. For example, hematuria suggests vasculitis or an immunologically mediated disease, such as Wegener granulomatosis or systemic lupus erythematosus. The workup includes chest radiography and measurement of hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, platelet count, international normalized ratio, activated partial thromboplastin time, and creatinine level. Chest CT scanning often identifies sources of bleeding that are not apparent on radiographs and sometimes can be used in conjunction with bronchoscopy. Patients with massive hemoptysis should be hospitalized for rapid evaluation and intervention; treatment may include interventional bronchoscopy, angiography, or embolization. (J Respir Dis. 2007;28(4):139-148)

A 57-year-old woman presents with swelling of the hands that began several weeks earlier and is now worsening. She denies joint pain, and she has no history of trauma or significant vascular disease. She has had pneumonia several times; each episode was successfully treated with antibiotics. She has smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day for the past 20 years

A 59-year-old woman was evaluated for epigastric discomfort and iron deficiency anemia of 2 months' duration. Two years earlier, she had undergone left upper lung lobectomy and adjuvant radiation for T2 N0 M0 poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma of the lung.

A 58-year-old man presents with exertionaldyspnea of 6 weeks’ duration, adry cough for 2 weeks, and decreasedappetite. He denies fever, chills, sputumproduction, hemoptysis, cigarette smoking,and significant weight loss. Thepatient, a retired electrician, was exposedto asbestos 20 years earlier.

Historically, tuberculosis (TB) was the most commoncause of hemoptysis. Classic operas, such asLa Traviata and La Bohème, featured dramatic scenes ofhemoptysis, often with the heroine dying following episodesof deep passion and coughing.

A 45-year-old man presents with a 1- to2-week history of low-grade fever and nonproductivecough. He has a long history of cigarette and alcoholabuse. The office nurse expresses her concern about thepatients cyanotic nail beds and requests your immediateevaluation.

Alimta (pemetrexed disodium) from Eli Lilly andCompany has received FDA approval for treatmentof malignant pleural mesothelioma. This orphan drug wasapproved under the FDA’s accelerated program for drugsthat treat cancer or life-threatening disease.

A 59-year-old woman presents with generalized facialswelling and dyspnea that has progressed graduallyover the past month. The patient also reports a sensationof pressure in her neck and ears and swelling of the lowereyelids, neck, upper chest, and upper limbs. The bloodvessels on her upper chest are prominent. A dry, irritatingcough has worsened.

A 48-year-old African Americanwoman with HIV infection who hadbeen hospitalized several days earlierfor presumed Pneumocystis cariniipneumonia (PCP) is readmittedbecause of worsening dyspnea and atemperature of 38.8oC (102oF).She also complains of painful swellingand erythema on her right arm.Her symptoms have worseneddespite treatment with trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole.