Lung cancer for decades it has been the most observed in terms of incidence, worldwide. Today it has been overtaken by breast cancer in women, but still ranks second.
However, this disease represents the first cause of death from cancer in men and the second in women among which there was an increase in cases, probably due to the spread of the smoking habit.
Lung cancer, risk factors
This tumor is not strictly related to age. According to the figures, just under a third of new cases occur in people under the age of 65. Smoking is also passive the key risk factor for this tumor form. But there are also other elements, such as the presence of other cases in the family, exposure to high-risk carcinogens, the presence of other lung diseases, even very strong air pollution.
Lung tumor forms
Lung cancer is characterized by an abnormal cell proliferation and, depending on the type of cells involved and detected by the histological examination, two broad categories can be distinguished in general terms. The first is the microcytoma, that is the small cell tumor, the other, more widespread, is non-small cell cancer.
The microcytoma is the most aggressive form and already at the time of diagnosis in some cases there may be metastases, while the non-small cell tumor is in turn classified into three subtypes, namely adenocarcinoma, large cell carcinoma and carcinoma squamous cell.
Lung cancer, therapies
At the level of therapies, today there are specific molecular markers that can direct the treatment of lung cancer towards innovative therapies such as those called target therapies, or molecularly targeted therapies that selectively act on the factors that affect the growth of cancer cells. Therefore, the molecular characterization of non-small cell lung cancer represents a fundamental step in the diagnosis and treatment of the patient. The oncologist can identify the treatment that acts exactly on a specific goal.
To follow the daily Health Pill “Lung cancer and tailor-made therapies”, click and listen here
“Daily Health Pills” is the podcast series by DiLei TakeCare, curated by Federico Mereta. In each episode we talk about prevention, care and good habits.
.