Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women in the US, but a study in Chest (Pasquinelli et al.) suggests the 2021 United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lung cancer screening guidelines, released in March, result in more women being ineligible for lung cancer screening than men.
Study researchers found that adding a specific risk prediction model criteria to the USPSTF guidelines may reduce this gender disparity in lung cancer screening. This risk prediction model does not feature an age-pack-years-quit-years restriction, but instead includes a total of 11 risk predictors.
LCRF grantee Dr. Melinda Aldrich has developed a tool to communicate the importance of early detection of lung cancer. Dr. Aldrich, Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) was awarded a 2019 LCRF Disparities Grant, and her research focuses on understanding differences in lung cancer risk and survival among different racial/ethnic populations. Her work also entails looking at genetic and non-genetic risk factors, the genetics of immunotherapy, and population genetics of African American and other admixed populations.
One of Dr. Aldrich’s grant objectives was to implement a community-engaged distribution strategy to build awareness around the importance of early detection of lung cancer. Collaborating with community partners across middle Tennessee and including input from Black and Latinx cancer survivors, she has developed an infographic. This infographic emphasizes the importance of lung cancer screening, describes eligibility criteria, and provides links to related resources.
My journey with Stage IV lung cancer started in early June when I started to feel dizzy and eventually developed double vision. I didn’t think it was out of the ordinary because I thought it was vertigo. Shortly after I started noticing that I would lose my balance, and began having issues swallowing. At this point I sought out medical attention at an urgent care and was told it was vertigo. I was sent home with some pills and told to come back in a week if there was no improvement.
The pills worked for a short amount of time but did not get rid of symptoms so I went back to urgent care for a second time. This time I was given steroids. A few days later I started noticing I was staggering to both sides when I was walking. At this point, I knew that an ER visit was warranted. Upon a multitude of tests and scans, there was a mass discovered in my lung. The neurologist admitted me to the hospital to complete an MRI scan – this scan revealed an additional mass in my brain stem. With this knowledge, I knew I needed to seek out the best possible care available and very quickly found my way to Penn Medicine, where I met with a doctor two days later.
The doctor at Penn Medicine confirmed that my diagnosis was Stage IV lung cancer. I was immediately admitted for further testing, scans, MRI, blood work, and a biopsy of the lung. The biopsy revealed that it was not small cell lung cancer. Upon waiting for the results of the biopsy, it was decided that the symptoms from the brain stem mass needed to be addressed immediately. The doctors put together a plan to do an outpatient procedure with gamma knife radiation.
While waiting for that procedure, the results of the blood test revealed that I had a marker for a genetic mutation called EGFR which had a targeted therapy available. The plan moving forward was to proceed with the gamma knife first and begin the targeted therapy the next day.
I am now in the recovery stages from my treatments and will be taking the targeted therapy once a day the rest of my life and continue with scans every three months in the near future. Through the donations of others to clinical research for targeted therapies, my journey has been made manageable and allowed for myself and millions of others’ lives to be saved.
Dr. Sydney Barned had started her medical residency when she decided it was time to see a pulmonologist. The year before, she had pneumonia and thought her continued breathing issues might mean she was developing asthma – which runs in her family.
Her X-rays revealed a small abnormality, and a follow-up CT scan showed it was compressing Sydney’s airway. Soon, she was given a shocking diagnosis: Stage IV lung cancer.
Hear how her journey has affected her as an oncologist, and why she feels continued lung cancer research is of utmost importance.
LCRF Scientific Advisory Board member Karen L. Reckamp, MD, explained the significance of the final results of the phase 1/2 and phase 2 ALTA trials in ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
During the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting in June, the final results of the ALTA trials showed sustained long-term activity with brigatinib (Alunbrig®) in patients with ALK-positive, crizotinib-resistant NSCLC.
A total 185 golfers hit the links at the Gregory Rubino Memorial Golf Tournament on June 25, raising a total $16,000 for lung cancer research. The Rubino family donated the funds to the Lung Cancer Research Foundation to support its mission to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure of lung cancer.
The event was held in honor of Gregory Rubino, who was diagnosed with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer in late 2019 and passed away just five months later on April 14, 2020. His wife Kathleen and brother Joe organized the tournament, which took place at Richmond Country Club in Hope Valley, RI. The golf outing is their way of helping to prevent others from experiencing the heartache they endured.
For information about organizing your own fundraising event to benefit lung cancer research, contact Emma Nestler, Manager, Community Engagement & Outreach.
Triparna Sen, PhD, has been named winner of the 2021 AAAS Martin and Rose Wachtel Cancer Research Award for outstanding contributions to the field by an early-career cancer researcher. Dr. Sen, who is assistant attending at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Department of Medicine, was awarded a LCRF research grant in 2017.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its Science family of journals.
Dr. Sen will deliver her lecture titled “Understanding and Targeting Small Cell Lung Cancer” virtually on August 6 from 12-1 PM EDT. The free lecture will be hosted by the National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health. Her essay will be published in Science Translational Medicine. For more information about the lecture, visit LCRF.org/wachtel.
An informative campaign, Lung Health, hit newsstands within the centerfold insert of USAToday and was published online on Wednesday, June 30. LCRF was proud to partner with Mediaplanet on the campaign, and is featured in two articles:
Free to Breathe Kites began as Kites for a Cure in 2008, when a group of friends and family gathered in New Jersey to fly kites in memory of Elliot Chalmé A’H, who passed away from lung cancer. The fundraiser went national in 2020 as a virtual event.
Below you can watch the recording of the June 26, 2021 livestream, which ended with an invitation for participants to go fly their kites.
