Breakthroughs in Lung Cancer Research and Early Detection Strategies

Jennifer Marie Suga, MD, a medical oncologist at Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center, shares the lung cancer research she’s eager to explore as new data emerges.

Transcription:

0:10 | I think there is a lot of really intriguing data for sure. I think for the most part, a lot of the data that came out helped define who might benefit from some of these treatments more effectively. What I really loved about it is that we are starting to see a shift from giving the same treatment to everyone to identifying who might truly benefit.

0:43 | For the most part, there were some potential new drugs that might be beneficial, but what was more impressive was seeing how well stage III [patients with] lung cancer did with chemo-immunotherapy, even long-term, even if they had N2 disease. Traditionally, with N2 disease, there is always a concern about a very high risk of recurrence. But even with that early data, it was great to see that chemo-immunotherapy before surgery remained beneficial, even for patients with multi-station N2 disease. That is something that was really great to see.

1:35 | The other thing I found very impressive was the presentation about the Taiwanese National Lung Cancer Early Detection Program. CT screening in the United States is still slow to get up and running, but seeing an entire country focus on early detection of lung cancer was remarkable. They showed that family history is really important in non-smoking lung cancer detection.

2:15 | They also mentioned that lung cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, so it is really important not to neglect non-smoking lung cancer cases. By implementing a rational approach to CT screening for both non-smokers and smokers, they were able to reduce rates of stage four disease and significantly increase stage I disease detection rates. This proves that such efforts will be beneficial long-term. I applaud them for achieving this on a national scale, and I believe it’s something we should strive to implement in our country as well.