Lung Cancer Awareness Month: How smoking increases the risk of cancer, explains top 8 cancer specialists

New Delhi: Lung cancer is usually associated with smoking and an older person’s disease, but it also affects young nonsmokers, especially post-pandemic. According to health experts, a healthy diet, regular exercise, and stress-relieving activities can assist individuals in coping with the negative effects of cancer treatment and the disease itself.

Lung cancer symptoms – such as persistent cough, chest pain, fever, frequent respiratory infections, or chronic bronchitis – strongly resemble the symptoms of other health conditions. Often, patients don’t develop noticeable symptoms until the disease has progressed to an advanced stage. Here is some advice from the best cancer specialists on how the pandemic has increased cancer risk among youngsters.

Dr. Sachinder Jain Nawal,

MBBS, DCh, MD pediatrics,

DM Respiratory medicine international force graduate pediatric certification in pediatrics,

Consultant – Sunrise Hospital & Arihant Hospital, Gurugram.

If any of these signs are present, please meet with your health care provider: Trouble breathing or shortness of breath that does not go away even after stopping exercise, feeling like you are not getting enough air, Chronic cough, Coughing out blood, having chronic mucus production, and having chronic chest pain lasting for more than a month in various forms when you breathe in or cough are warning signs of lung disease.

Dr. Satvik Khaddar,

MD, DM Medical Oncology,

Consultant Medical Oncologist, Indore.

Though a cancer diagnosis is a challenging moment in someone’s life, remember that most cancers are treatable. No matter what stage of cancer is, setting short-term and long-term goals will help define and achieve life’s purposes. Find ways that help you relax, try to maintain a healthy lifestyle, let your friends and family help you, talk to other people with cancer through support groups, and communicate freely with your oncologist for advice. You can live with hope for a cure, a remission, or stable cancer without suffering and enjoy a high quality of life with family and friends for as long as possible.

Dr. Abhijit Ahuja,

MD (Pulmonary Medicine), EDRM (Italy), Fellowship in Interventional Pulmonology & Thoracic Oncology Consultant – Saifee Hospital, Zen & Sushrut Hospital, Mumbai.

Lung cancer has become the most diagnosed cancer & leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. It accounts for 5.9% of all cancers and 8.1% of all cancer-related deaths in our country. Around 80% of these are tobacco smokers. Even if you haven’t smoked a cigarette, there are other important risk factors like family history of the disease, exposure to second-hand smoke, carcinogens such as asbestos, radon, arsenic and even air pollution. If you experience persistent breathlessness, recurring chest infections, unexplained loss of appetite or weight & coughing up blood, you must reach out to your pulmonologist at the earliest for evaluation.  Research has shown that lung cancer screening can catch tumors when they’re curable.

Dr. Saurabh Gupta,

M.CH (Surgical Oncology), Senior Consultant & Unit Head Oncologist & Robotic Cancer Surgeon (Seoul, Korea) Venkateshwar Cancer Hospital , New Delhi.

Cigarette smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer. Youths are getting addicted to tobacco or smoking as early as 16-17 years of age, getting influenced by film stars or by their peer group. Even secondhand smoke/passive smoking affects all children at home, predisposing them to lung cancer. Youth should be sensitized towards the ill effects of tobacco and should be engaged in productive work for the nation. Strict law enforcement to curb tobacco use/sale is the need of the hour.

Environmental pollution also adds to this cause. Healthy youth is the future of any nation.

STOP TOBACCO – CONTROL CANCER – BUILD A STRONG NATION!

Dr. P Vijay Karan Reddy,

MD RT, FUICC(US), FAROI(US), FUICC(UK), ESMO(Med Onc), AMPH Consultant Oncologist, Apollo Cancer Institute, Hyderabad.

The risk factor for lung cancer is smoking. Although not everyone who smokes will get lung cancer, smoking dramatically increases the risk. Your body can repair a large portion of the harm caused by the toxins in cigarette smoke after you stop. Roughly 10–15 percent of lung cancer patients have no smoking history. Some factors, besides smoking, that may increase your risk of lung cancer include genetics, exposure to substances like arsenic, diesel exhaust, and some silica and chromium, an improper diet, and air pollution.

The nicotine in the e-cigarettes gets them addicted at an early age, and once that happens, there is no turning back. Whether its hookah, sheesha, or E cigarettes, tobacco is tobacco, and the less you smoke, the safer you are.

Dr. Shivakumar Uppala,

MBBS, MS, MCH (Surgical Oncology) FAIS, FMAS Consultant Surgical Oncologist AND Medical Director Trust in Hospital and Norgh Bangalore Hospital, Bangalore Smoking is the single most important risk factor that causes lung cancer. With advancements in treatment for lung cancer, most early lung cancers can be cured with surgery. Robotic surgery allows us to perform the most complex surgeries with greater ease, faster post-operative recovery, and fewer complications. Young people should be aware of the side effects of smoking, and the most important thing is that people think smokeless tobacco has no risk of cancer. In truth, smokeless tobacco is equal to other forms of tobacco with respect to lung cancer risk. We need to educate young people about not taking up cigarette smoking and avoiding all forms of tobacco to keep their lung health in check.

Dr. Jojo V Joseph,

MS (Surgery), MCh (oncosurgery),

Senior Consultant Surgical Oncologist – Caritas Cancer Institute Kottayam & Indiragandhi co op Hospital, Kochi.

Passive smoking (breathing the smoke coming out of a smoker) and atmospheric pollution, especially vehicle exhaust and industrial pollution, are the main causes of lung cancer in nonsmokers in India. Inhalation of smoke coming out of burning plastic openly is another common cause of lung cancer in non-smokers in India. Banning tobacco and minimizing atmospheric pollution are the keys to stopping lung cancer deaths in India. Let’s all join together to fight for a smoke-free and pollution-free India. This should begin with our own home.

Dr. Bharat Ashok Vaswani,

MD, DM, MRCP-UK (Medical Oncology), ECMO,

PDCR Senior Medical Oncologist and Hematologist -Yashoda Hospital, Secunderabad.

Lung cancer, particularly in young people, is on the rise; females have more cancers at a younger age than males, which is partly due to smoking, but the main reason is a change in genomics, specifically the presence of some driver mutations in females. The three most common driver mutations causing lung cancer are EGFR, ALK, and ROS amplification. The clinical part of it is that nowadays we have so many effective targeted new treatments based on these molecular alterations, which help increase the lifespan and improve the quality of life for these cancer patients.