News

Despite smoking being a significant health risk leading to lung cancer, the disease remains a considerable concern for those who have never smoked. While cigarettes remain a dominant contributor, there are also other risk elements such as exposure to environmental toxins like radon gas, second-hand smoke and occupational risks.

The Center for Thoracic Cancers at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center expands its leadership team.

Ingesting nicotine this way comes with its own set of concerns. “Absorption through the mouth over time is concerning because it maintains nicotine levels in the body and could lead to addiction and potentially the desire or need for more or higher doses,” says Vincent Mase, MD, FACS, a thoracic surgeon at Yale Cancer Center and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Yale School of Medicine.

Division Chiefs name the Hollywood actor they'd like to represent them in a movie.

“Here I am going in for a routine eye exam and now all of a sudden I have a possible malignant spot on my lung. I mean talk about shell shock,” she said. Before the time came for the MRI on that Thursday — which didn’t detect anything suspicious — Vanderlick was already speaking with Dr. Sanket Thakore, a pulmonary specialist who treats and diagnoses critical lung conditions with minimally invasive techniques. Thakore immediately discussed taking a biopsy since Vanderlick was already in the hospital, she said. “When you have something suspicious like that you want to know right away about how bad it is,” Vanderlick said. “With this alone, you are already overwhelmed and don’t want a lot of drama or trauma even more than you are already experiencing.” On Friday that same week, Thakore used a new technique called robotic bronchoscopy procedure, and available at YNHH.

The new guidelines recommend cancer screenings even if smokers quit decades ago. That’s because early detection and new therapies can boost survival.

Are you eligible for lung cancer screening? Earlier this week, the American Cancer Society (ACS) released updated lung cancer screening guidelines that will allow more than 5 million additional U.S. adults who smoke and formerly smoked to get screened for lung cancer. Typically, screening finds the early stage cancers while the later-stage cancers are found when people have symptoms, Daniel Boffa, MD, division chief of thoracic surgery and clinical director of the Center for Thoracic Cancers at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital told Health. “Screening works by finding dangerous cancers before they do dangerous things,” he said. “Overall people that participate in lung cancer screening reduce their chances of dying of lung cancer by 20%.”

Lung cancer takes the lives of about 127,000 people in the United States annually — nearly the same number of people who will die from colon, breast and prostate cancer combined. And yet 1 out of 5 people who smoked could have saved their life with a simple test — a low-dose CT scan — catching the cancer before it spreads to lymph nodes and other vital organs. Tragically, this simple test — one of our best weapons against one of the most dangerous cancers — is not being used frequently enough. As a result, tens of thousands of people are lost each year to a disease they could have beaten.

Hosted by Benjamin L. Judson, MD, MBA, Charles W. Ohse Professor of Surgery, and J3P Healthcare Solutions, the Life of a Surgeon series aims to address challenges and build a supportive community for early-career surgeons.