Emir Olivares Alonso
Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, April 5, 2022, p. eleven
lung cancer is a real health problem for the world
. It is the sixth leading cause of death globally, with an annual rate of 1.8 million deaths, a figure equivalent to deaths caused by SARS-CoV-2 in its first year (1.9 million).
This was stated by Jorge Alatorre, an oncology specialist at the ABC Medical Center, at a conference on the eve of National Lung Cancer Day – which is commemorated today -, where he added that the new treatments have extended the life expectancy of patients with this condition. disease from nine months to five years.
silent disease
The expert oncologist in thoracic neoplasms indicated that it is a disease silent
, because the symptoms can be confused with other less complex conditions, especially respiratory ones. This generates that, in most cases, it is already detected in very advanced stages.
Warning symptoms are cough that does not go away, gets worse, or has blood; feeling short of breath or difficulty breathing; chest, back, or hip pain; wheezing; permanent fatigue; weight loss, as well as frequent respiratory tract infections.
Diagnoses are usually late, so he recommended being attentive to any of these symptoms in order to see a specialist.
Until five years ago, he asserted, being diagnosed with this disease was equivalent to an average of living nine more months.
Fortunately, thanks to the advancement of medicine, currently the life expectancy for those who live with the condition and receive treatment reaches five years and there is even a record that 32.5 percent of patients are alive and manage to be cured by full.
