© 2005 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Thoracic Society
EDITORIAL
Early diagnosis of lung cancer
Symptoms and the early diagnosis of lung cancer
Thoracic Oncology Unit, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr M D Peake
Thoracic Oncology Unit and Institute for Lung Health, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester LE3 9QP, UK; mick.peake@uhl-tr.nhs.uk
Significant delays remain in the diagnosis of lung cancer
Keywords: lung cancer; early diagnosis; symptoms
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the western world, resulting in nearly 30 000 deaths in England and Wales in 2002.1 Advances in the management of breast, cervical, and prostate cancer have led to improved survival rates, whereas mortality from lung cancer has remained largely unchanged.2 Even the best reported 5 year survival rates for lung cancer are only 10–15%3,4 and, in England, in patients diagnosed between 1993 and 1995 the survival rate was only 5.5% at 5 years and 22% at 1 year.5
This high mortality is very largely a consequence of patients presenting late when the cancer is already locally advanced or has disseminated. Around 80% of patients with lung cancer have stage III or IV disease at presentation, therefore excluding them from potentially curative surgical resection.6 Detection of the tumour at an earlier stage leads to an improved
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