quote:

Lung cancer disparities...due to misconceptions about prevention?

Comment from a colleague:
"Dr. Lathan should have said, "Stop smoking if you want to prevent small cell lung cancer ." Otherwise the misperception about the majority of lung cancer diagnoses (non small cell lung cancer) will persist. Lung cancer "gets no respect" given people believe we all did it to ourselves. That is true for small cell lung cancer patients, approximately 20 percent of new lung cancer diagnoses every year, but it is not true for the lion's share of yearly diagnoses, the 80 percent who present as non-small cell lung cancer patients. They did not smoke and weren't around smokers either. Lung cancer is the number 2 killer of Americans after heart disease. We must do more to educate Americans about lung cancer in general or we will never get the funding we need to find cures."