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November 13, 2006

Dr. Michael O'Shea of St. Vincent Hospital discusses important steps in lung cancer treatment.

Michael O'Shea
Cancer of the lung is the leading cause of death from cancer in America. In 2005, over 170,000 new lung cancers were diagnosed and over 150,000 died of the disease. It affects men and women in nearly equal numbers. It is well publicized that breast cancer is a significant cause of mortality in women, but what is not well known is that cancer of the lung kills far more women on a yearly basis than does breast cancer. This was not always the case, but has become so in recent years with the increasingly higher incidence of cigarette smoking among women, especially now among teenage girls.Considering the statistics that compare incidence and mortality rates in women from breast cancer and lung cancer, it's seems ironic that so much more publicity and research dollars go into the former. There exists a notion that lung cancer somehow, because of its strong causal relationship to smoking, is partly the patient’s own fault. This of course is unfair as it totally ignores the strong addictive powers of nicotine.

The management of patients with lung cancer boils down to the following:

1.       Making a biopsy (tissue) diagnosis. 

2.       Deciding how advanced the stage of the cancer is at the time of diagnosis. 

Treatment options include surgery to remove the cancer, radiation therapy, and or chemotherapy. Sometimes a combination of any two or more of these modalities is used. The decision as to what therapy is offered is based upon the type of cancer and the stage of it's advancement at the time of treatment. Surgery, when appropriate, gives the best chance for cure and is generally offered to patients who are fortunate enough to be diagnosed at an earlier stage. A screening chest x ray done yearly in patients over 40 with a history of smoking is a reasonable addition to an annual visit to a family physician. Recent publicity regarding likely benefits to massive cat/scan screening of smokers is premature and need further control trials to prove benefits.

In the long term, the battle against this major killer of humans is best waged by programs that provide early education to our kids regarding the dangers of smoking. The cessation of cigarette use in our society would within twenty years reduce the incidence of this disease by up to 85%. For those in the Worcester area who still smoke and need free help in stopping call Try to Stop at 800-879-8678.  Patients with a history of smoking or chronic cough being referred by their primary care physician can be seen by a physician on the Saint Vincent Hospital Lung Cancer Team within 48 business hours of calling 508-363-5035.  

About the author

Dr. O’Shea serves as both Director of the Lung Cancer Center at Saint Vincent Hospital and as the hospital’s Director of Thoracic Surgery.  Board certified in thoracic surgery and general surgery, Dr. O’Shea earned his medical degree from the National University of Ireland and fulfilled his residency requirements at UMass Medical Center in Worcester, MA and the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada.  In addition, Dr. O’Shea held a fellowship in thoracic surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH.  He has been a Worcester physician since 1983 and on the staff of Saint Vincent Hospital since 1990.

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