How dangerous is the lung cancer that artist Han Van Tinh has?

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, commonly occurring between the ages of 45 and 70.

Artist Han Van Tinh is being treated at the hospital. Photo:NN

Artist Han Van Tinh was diagnosed with lung cancer a year and a half ago. Currentlythe tumor has metastasized to the armpitcausing him to fall into a coma and be hospitalized with a poor prognosis.

According to Dr Lim Hong Liang, a lung and head and neck cancer specialist at Parkway Cancer Centre Singapore (PCC),Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. It occurs most commonly between the ages of 45 and 70.

There are two main types of lung cancer. The first is adenocarcinoma.Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for about 85 to 87% of all cases. With the characteristic of developing more slowly than the other types, up to 40% of cases are diagnosed when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. The second is tumorSmall cell lung cancer accounts for about 13% to 15% of all cases. This cancer is very aggressive and spreads quickly, most cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage, the tumor has metastasized to other parts of the body.

Studies show that smoking is the most common cause of lung cancer. A common symptom is a persistent cough. A chest x-ray can detect it, but further imaging tests and biopsies are needed to confirm it. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy can all be used to treat lung cancer.

Many people think that the main cause of lung cancer is increasing due to environmental pollution, but in fact, it is not. According to Dr. Lim, the environment is related to this disease but accounts for a very low percentage. For example, people living in polluted environments have a rate of lung cancer only 5% higher than the rest of the population. Specifically,Research results show that people living in polluted environments such as near factories and places with many cars emit only 1.5 times more toxic gases than people who are not.While smokers have a 50 times higher risk of lung cancer than normal.

Most cancer experts confirmTobacco is the main cause of this disease.. In the US, lung cancer is the leading cause of death due to the high rate of smoking. Countries with fewer smokers also have fewer cases of lung cancer. "In the world, 80% of lung cancer patients are smokers. This means that 80% of smokers get lung cancer," Dr. Lim emphasized.

Lung cancer treatment at hospitals today follows standard protocols worldwide. Specifically, stage one and two patients must undergo surgery to remove the tumor. Stage three requires radiotherapy. Stage four will use medication to control. However, some stage one or two patients who have undergone surgery still relapse, and doctors often prescribe additional chemotherapy to reduce the risk.

For stage 3 patients with lung tumors and lymph nodes, the main treatment is radiation therapy, but the effectiveness is only about 5 to 8%. Therefore, doctors often prescribe additional chemotherapy to increase the effectiveness to about 20%. For stage 4 patients, when the cancer has metastasized, treatment only stops at the goal of controlling the disease to prolong life as long as possible. Currently, there are many new generation targeted therapy drugs that have been proven to help increase life expectancy.live for the sick

According to Dr. Lim, about 10 years ago, people considered lung cancer to be a disease that should be treated with the same medicine and the same method. This led to the consequence that some people responded to the medicine and others did not. After careful research, experts divided cancer into smaller classes. First, there was small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Small cell was further divided into adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and non-specific large cell. Then, the carcinoma was further divided into smaller classes to test for gene mutations. If the test result was positive for a type, there would be a specific drug for that type of gene. All drugs were in oral form. Therefore, theGenetic mutation testing for targeted drug therapy is considered the optimal solution to prolong the lives of lung cancer patients.

According to VNE