The American star, Kate Micucci, who is famous for her role in the series “The Big Bang Theory”, has been diagnosed with lung cancer, according to what she recently stated on her account in the “Tik Tok” application, confirming that she “has never smoked in her life.” .
According to the website “HelithSpecializing in medical and health news, Micucci, who is 43 years old, explained that her malignant disease is still in its early stages, adding: “What happened to me is very strange, because I have never put a single cigarette in my mouth, so it was surprising.”
Although about 80 percent of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking, an increasing number of cases are being diagnosed in people who do not smoke.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States estimates that up to 20 percent of lung cancer cases diagnosed in the country each year are in people who have never smoked, or who have smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.
Larry Robinson, a pulmonologist and thoracic surgeon at Moffitt Cancer Center, explained that the high numbers “are a very disturbing problem.”
He continued: “Twenty years ago, a case of lung cancer in a person who never smoked was very rare, but at the present time I see at least one case per week.”
Research published earlier this year showed that lung cancer rates are higher in younger and middle-aged women than in men of the same age, and experts don’t yet know why.
Why do non-smokers get lung cancer?
Smoking of all kinds is one of the main risk factors for lung cancer, but it is not the only one. There are other risk factors such as passive smoking, air pollution, asbestos, and a family history of lung cancer.
Among these additional risk factors, researchers estimate that passive smoking contributes to about 7,300 lung cancer diagnoses each year, while radon contributes to about 2,900 cases.
Radon is a natural radioactive gas that has no odor, color, or taste. It results from the natural radioactive decay of uranium found in rocks and all types of soil, and it can also be found in water.
But the reasons for the increase in lung cancer cases among non-smokers have not been determined with certainty. Radon, for example, has been a known risk factor for years, and here Robinson explains: “People are no longer exposed to more of that gas than they were 50 years ago… so I think “It may be related to environmental factors.”
According to experts, there is still a lot of research to be done, especially regarding lung cancer rates in women who have never smoked.
In this context, American oncologist Jack Jacob said: “We are currently looking into the causes resulting from estrogen metabolites, chronic inflammation, processed foods, and chemicals.”
“But we’re not sure what all of these things are, and how they come together to increase the risk of lung cancer,” continued the doctor, who serves as medical director of MemorialCare Cancer Institute in California.
Differences between smokers and others
Lung cancer in non-smokers is usually different from lung cancer in people who smoke. In non-smokers, lung cancer tends to develop when a person is younger, and the cancer itself may have certain genetic changes that differ from smokers’ tumors.
Non-smokers are usually diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer, i.e. adenocarcinoma, which represents 50 to 60 percent of lung cancers.
This type of cancer begins in the mucus-producing cells in the lungs. Adenocarcinoma is often found in the outer parts of the lung, making it easier to diagnose before it spreads.
There are 10 to 20 percent of lung cancers in people who have never smoked, known as squamous cell carcinomas, which are cancers that form in the cells that line the inside of the airways in the lungs.
What are the symptoms?
Although the types of cancer that smokers and non-smokers develop may be different, the symptoms are generally the same, the most important of which are:
• Feeling tired in general
• Signs of fatigue despite no apparent muscle effort
• Unexplained weight loss
• Frequent coughing
• Hoarseness
• Coughing up blood
• Source
• shortness of breath
Treatment for lung cancer in a non-smoker, like most types of cancer, depends on whether it is detected early or in the later stages.
If lung cancer is detected early in a non-smoker, he or she will have a better chance of survival, according to Dr. Jacob, who said that this malignant disease in non-smokers tends to occur in people who are younger and healthier, and who do not have many associated chronic diseases. Smoking causes heart disease and lung disease.
Non-smokers with lung cancer may also benefit from mutations that may have led to their disease. “The good thing for many lung cancer patients who never smoke is that they may have mutations that we have drugs for,” Robinson says.
