November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month
10/28/2024
Physicians, surgeons, and other professionals at Northwest Healthcare’s robust breast and lung health programs are committed to fighting cancer in our Southern Arizona communities. Every October, Northwest Healthcare recognizes Breast Cancer Awareness Month by encouraging women aged 40 and older to get screening mammograms – and, in November, we encourage people at high risk for lung cancer to ask their physicians about lung cancer screenings.
According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world. In 2022, there were 2.5 million new cases of lung cancer (accounting for 12.4 percent of total new cancer cases). Breast cancer in women ranked second with 2.3 million cases, or 11.6 percent.
Breast and lung cancer are interrelated in a few ways: Both are more easily treatable when caught in the earliest stages, and both have risk factors in common – including tobacco use, occupational exposure to carcinogens, and radiation to the chest.
Because the anatomical areas are so close together, breast and lung cancer can sometimes occur in the same patient.
According to the American Cancer Society, women diagnosed with early-stage 1 or 2 invasive ductal carcinoma – the most common kind of breast cancer – have 5-year survival rates of about 99 percent. However, between 20 and 30 percent of those patients will have a recurrence of disease within 10 years. This recurrence may happen in one or both breasts, but it may also appear in the chest wall, spine, lungs or other organs. When breast cancer travels to a location other than the breast months or years after the initial diagnosis, but is usually considered Stage 4, or metastatic, breast cancer. The five-year survival rate for metastatic breast cancer is about 22 percent, with a median survival rate of three years.
Metastatic breast cancer costs about 43,000 American lives every year.
Screening mammograms are one of our most powerful weapons when it comes to diagnosing breast cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages. Breast cancer can appear in women before age 40 – with no symptoms – so we encourage women to schedule imaging appointments and follow up with their physicians on a regular basis.
The most common site of breast cancer metastasis is the lung.
“After breast radiation, a woman’s risk for lung cancer does increase,” says Dr. Abhinav “Ab” Mittal, M.D., a pulmonologist with Northwest Pulmonology. “When our team uses minimally-invasive techniques to find and biopsy small, or incidental lung nodules, we are primarily looking for lung cancer – but we also sometimes find breast cancer that has metastasized into the lungs.”
Another statistic from the World Health Organization: Over 35 million new cancer cases are predicted in 2025, a 77 percent increase from the estimated 20 million cases in 2022.
Fortunately, breast and lung cancers are often preventable and treatable in people who get appropriate screenings and see their physicians regularly – especially if they do not use tobacco. If you have ever used tobacco – and you experience changes in lung function or have a lung nodule appear on an X-ray – you should ask your doctor if a lung cancer screening or minimally-invasive biopsy is appropriate for you.
People who experience any of the following signs and symptoms are encouraged to make an appointment with a primary care provider:
- A lump in the breast
- Changes in the size, shape, or appearance of the breast
- Itchiness confined to the breast area
- Chest pain – especially if it is constant and/or aggravated by deep breathing, coughing, or laughing
- Wheezing or shortness of breath
- Hoarseness
- Pneumonia or bronchitis that doesn’t go away or keeps coming back
- Feeling unusually weak or tired
- Unexplained weight loss
To make an appointment with a primary care provider at Northwest Healthcare, please visit https://www.nwalliedphysicians.com/family-medicine-care or https://www.nwalliedphysicians.com/internal-medicine-care.
Back