Only 10 percent of patients with this type of cancer can be cured, because there is no way to detect it early
Lilian Hernandez
The lethality of lung cancer in Mexico and the world is very high; 9 out of 10 patients with this disease die, because when it is diagnosed it is in a very advanced stage, because it does not present symptoms to detect it in time.
The medical oncologist, specialist in lung cancer, Jerónimo Rodríguez Cid, explained that this type of tumor is more aggressive than breast or prostate cancer, so once it is detected it is very difficult for the patient to heal, as only 10 percent manage to beat it.
In an interview, the Médica Sur specialist in Mexico City explained that although in Mexico there are more than three times as many new cases of breast cancer as lung cancer, it is more deadly.
The most recent official data indicate that in 2018 7,811 new cases of lung cancer and 6,733 deaths from this disease were diagnosed.
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In that same year, there were 27 thousand 283 new cases of breast cancer and 6 thousand 884 deaths, which reveals that most patients are cured, that is, between 60 and 65 percent manage to eradicate this disease because it is detected at an early stage and there is a way to eradicate it in a timely manner.
But the same is not the case with lung cancer. “Unfortunately, only 10 percent of patients are cured, which makes lung cancer the most lethal in the world, because it does not generate symptoms, unlike breast cancer.”
Until coughing up blood, weight loss, pain and shortness of breath it is possible to detect it, but the disease is advanced and sometimes they are symptoms of other diseases, so there is no certainty.
“It is a more malignant tumor, there is no way to detect it early, the symptoms are ambiguous and when they are already visible it is when the disease is already advanced, in addition there is a delay to reach the specialist, because first a general practitioner, internist and pulmonologist before arriving with the oncologist, “lamented the lung cancer specialist.
Another interesting fact that he highlighted is that 40 percent of lung cancer patients do not smoke, they are people under 50 years of age and most of these cases occur in women, who develop this cancer due to a genetic mutation, while a 35 percent are diagnosed because their risk factor is having been exposed to wood smoke, especially women in rural areas who cook with this type of combustion.
“People are afraid of chemotherapy, but it has been shown to improve the quality of life of the patient and to live longer, because it reduces the size of the tumor and he will have less fatigue and less weakness.”
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