Lung cancer is the number 1 cause of death in men.

Every year, Vietnam has about 22,000 new cases of lung cancer and 19,500 deaths, making it the leading cause of cancer death in men.

Speaking at the conference“Targeted therapy - A 10-year journey to prolong survival for patients with non-small cell lung cancer”, Dr. Pham Xuan Dung,Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital saidIt is estimated that by 2020, the number of new cases of lung cancer in both sexes each year in Vietnam will be more than 34,000. The disease affects the health and life of the patient because most patients are diagnosed at a late stage.

Every year, there are about 1.8 million new cases and 1.6 million deaths from lung cancer worldwide. In Vietnam, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men and the second leading cause of cancer death in women. Every year, the country has about 22,000 new cases and 19,500 deaths.

Illustration: very well.

Dr. Vu Van Vu, Head of Internal Medicine Department 1, Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, said that lung canceris divided into two large groups: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Of which, lung cancerNon-small cell lung cancer is a common cancer with a high mortality rate. Most patients present at the locally advanced or metastatic stage, or have distant metastases at the time of diagnosis. The 5-year survival rate of these patients is very low, only about 5%.

According to Dr. Vu, the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer has made many advances in the past decade. In addition to classic methods such as surgery, radiotherapy and cytotoxic chemotherapy, molecular biological methods have been used to identify EGFR gene mutations, leading to the indication of new targeted therapies.More than one million patients with non-small cell lung cancer have been treated with erlotinib in more than 100 countries worldwide. In Vietnam, erlotinib has been used for patients for more than 10 years, helping to prolong life many times longer than conventional chemotherapy.

Early stage lung cancer, newly developed cancer often has no symptoms. Many people think that when they have cough, chest pain, cough up blood, swollen lymph nodes, they will go to the doctor. When the disease has clinical manifestations, it is too late. Currently, medicine knows that tumors develop from a few cells, have disorders, genetic mutations and develop slowly, so they can detect tumors at an early stage, helping to make treatment more effective. When lung cancer is detected with small lesions, it can be completely treated with surgery.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends that lung cancer is related to smoking. The earlier and longer a person smokes, the higher the risk of cancer. People who quit smoking after 15 years have a risk almost equal to that of a normal person. Current and former smokers should be screened annually.

According to VNE