Soccer Dad

Detecting lung cancer

I don't often write about medical advances. But here's one that I heard about at the Shabbos table a couple of weeks ago. A Maryland company has developed a test for detecting lung cancer in its early stages.

LC Detect(SM) is a simple blood test to facilitate the identification of lung cancer, even among individuals with early-stage disease. Panacea Laboratories, a division of Panacea Pharmaceuticals, is certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA). The blood sample can be ordered by any physician and sent to Panacea for testing; sample and shipping requirements are available at www.panacea-labs.com.

Lung cancer accounts for the highest number of cancer deaths worldwide, in both men and women. An estimated 213,380 new cases of cancer involving the lung or bronchus are expected in the U.S. in 2007, accounting for about 15 percent of total cancer diagnoses. An estimated 160,390 deaths, accounting for about 29 percent of all cancer deaths, are expected to occur in 2007. Since 1987, more women have died each year from lung cancer than from breast cancer. Lung cancer was the third most common cancer for men and the fifth most common cancer for women in Japan in 2000. The five-year survival rate for lung cancer is only 15 percent. Survival rates for individuals in whom lung cancer is detected at an early stage while it remains localized are as high as 50 percent. Current screening and detection methods rely on imaging modalities, primarily chest x-ray and CT scanning. However, chest x-ray is not sufficiently sensitive and CT scanning is expensive with only a moderate improvement in sensitivity. Newer tests, such as low-dose spiral computed tomography scans and molecular markers in sputum have not proven to be useful to date.

This was a significant enough discovery that Time Magazine named it one of the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2007.

No I don't usually discuss medical breakthroughs at the Shabbos table. Except that one of the scientists who helped develop the test was visiting with his family. Nice to know when one of your friends changes the world.

cancer detection.

Posted by SoccerDad at January 13, 2008 12:38 PM