After an investigation of the heart, Janina discovered the cancer: the tumor grew to 4 centimeters in a year

Lung cancer found after heart tests

Ms. Janina recalls that she had a completely unexpected diagnosis of lung cancer: “I was a pretty healthy girl, I never had a lung disease, I didn’t even have a runny nose in the last year. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I lived a decent life and suddenly I got lung cancer. “

She went to the doctors in August of last year, as she puts it, for completely different symptoms unrelated to lung cancer.

“I went to the doctors for 9 months, they took me to the hospital by ambulance, they told me there was nothing, I didn’t find anything. I went to all the doctors, the cardiologist advised me to do a CT scan of the coronary arteries of the heart. Since the shunt was on the left side of the lung, right next to the heart, he saw it and immediately called the GP.

Also, more recently, my brother said that he also has lung cancer. The father’s brother died of lung cancer 32 years ago. The other two brothers died in exile as babies, also from lung disease. I began to ask the doctor that perhaps I also had this type of disease. A lung X-ray was done on January 13 of last year, it showed nothing. After one year and 4 months, the cancer was already 4 cm in size. After a while the operation was performed, now chemotherapy is being performed, “said the woman.

Lung cancer is the most common cancer disease in Lithuania and in the world. Every year in our country, this insidious disease, which has no symptoms at an early stage, affects up to 1,500 people and kills about 1,200. Only five percent survive to five years. ill. The disease is usually caught late.

It is a big mistake to include only smokers in the prevention program.

As Professor of Chest Diseases, Immunology and Allergology at Vilnius University Edward Danila, a 20-year-old smoker, is 10-15 years older biologically than his passport. What’s more, you probably already have chronic illnesses.

Add another 10-15 years to his age. If you are now 60 years old, your biological age will be around 70 and you will also have concomitant chronic heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. “These patients die faster from comorbidities than from lung cancer,” said the professor.

So, he said, a breakthrough would be any preventive lung screening program, but the details are also very important. It is currently proposed to include only smokers in the prevention program, which, according to the professor, would be a big mistake.

After all, that group of people who never smoked or passively and involuntarily smoked, but still developed cancer, are often forgotten.

“There are a lot of people like that and most programs don’t include them on the checks, so we don’t see the whole picture. There is already enough evidence that such screening programs, when they target a limited group of people, are not. as effective, that is, they are not compressed, as might be expected.

Household situation: smoker man and non-smoker wife, both 60 years old. The man sometimes smoked in the kitchen, on the balcony. From time to time, the husband will be offered to attend the prevention program, but the wife will not be eligible for that offer. For a man, the verification will be done dozens of times, for a woman not just once. After a while, women are more likely to develop cancer because women are much more susceptible to smoking. Most people have cancer for five to six years before it is diagnosed. But what if you tell that person that they are so sick and have never been offered a preventive checkup during those years? Well, you understand yourself “, – Prof. E. Danila.

According to the doctor, it is difficult to say which trends will continue in lung cancer. We are a moderately developed country, but we are constantly moving towards more developed countries. In those countries, according to prof. E. Danila, there is a clear trend for lung cancer to come close to the top in terms of causes of death for both men and women.

“When you try to combine the results with smoking, they are not combined because more developed countries smoke less. But the cancer is not declining. Why? Climate change, air pollution is increasing, that’s one of the factors. Therefore, prevention programs cannot be applied only to smokers, ”said the doctor.

If cancer is found early, some will make a full recovery.

“Lung cancer is getting younger, there are more and more women and people who have never smoked. Research in many foreign countries has led to an active debate among doctors and the public about the need for diagnostic programs. early for lung cancer. I am convinced that it is very important in Lithuania to start and supplement the list of prevention programs funded by the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund with lung cancer checks as soon as possible, “said Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė, member of the Seimas Health Affairs Committee that organized the press conference.

According to the head of the Pneumology Clinic of the Kaunas Clinics of the Health Sciences Hospital of the University of Lithuania, prof. According to Marius Žemaitis, if low-dose computed tomography is used to examine people at risk (smokers or smokers before and over 55 years), mortality from this disease is reduced by several tens of percent. If lung cancer could be found early, some people would also have a chance to make a full recovery.

A lung cancer screening study in women is especially beneficial, according to the doctor. There is data that lung screening programs reduce mortality by as much as 50-60 percent.

“While global morbidity trends around the world remain alarming, scientific advances are encouraging. However, the worst thing is that today there are no preventive screening methods that help improve lung cancer clarity.” regretted Prof. M. Žemaitis.

“2020 The Joint Declaration of the European Society of Radiologists and the European Society of Respiratory Scientists (Pulmonologists) encourages and establishes guidelines for the launch of a lung cancer early detection program in each European country, taking into account the specificities of each Taking into account the experience of many countries, especially Japan, I have no doubt that a statewide lung cancer early detection program (combined with an active fight against smoking) would save many lives, “said prof E. Danila.