Ministry of Public Health, November is the month of awareness campaign against lung cancer. The Department of Medical Services invites people to be aware of the dangers of lung cancer, suggesting that "lung cancer" is frequently found in Thai people. Risk factors should be avoided to reduce the risk of disease.
Dr. Weerawut Imsamran, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Medical Services, said that lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide. For Thailand, lung cancer is considered 1 in 5 common cancers. Which is the 2nd most common in males and 5th in females. Each year there will be approximately 17,222 new cases, 10,766 males and 6,456 females, of which approximately 14,728 people will die, or equivalent to 40 cases per day. Important risk factors for lung cancer are smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke, genetics, exposure to carcinogens such as radon gas, asbestos, radiation, incense smoke, and smoke from exhaust pipes. and air pollution, especially PM 2.5 dust, etc.
Dr. Sukon Phakkadniti, a physician specializing in respiratory cancer surgery. The National Cancer Institute says that patients with early stage lung cancer often have no symptoms. But as the disease progresses, symptoms will appear but are often non-specific, causing a delay in diagnosis. It affects how far the disease progresses or spreads. This causes the treatment to not work as well as it should and there is little chance of cure from the disease. In general, lung cancer has warning signs such as chronic coughing for more than 1 month, coughing up blood-tinged sputum, difficulty breathing, and being more easily breathless than usual. Chest pain, fatigue, etc. If any of these abnormal symptoms appear, the patient should consult a doctor immediately. In terms of treatment, the main methods include surgery and chemotherapy. and irradiation The doctor will consider the stage of the disease. Location of the tumor and the spread of disease including the overall health of the patient
Currently, the best way to screen for lung cancer in those with risk factors is to do a lung CT scan. But due to the high cost, it makes it inaccessible to most people. Therefore, it is recommended that people at high risk of developing lung cancer undergo annual screening through lung x-rays. To provide comparative information each year to see if there are any suspicious changes in lung cancer or not. However, preventing lung cancer by avoiding risk factors can help reduce the risk of the disease. You can follow additional news and knowledge about cancer from the National Cancer Institute at the website promoting knowledge to fight cancer. http://allaboutcancer.nci.go.th/ Website against fake cancer news https://thaicancernews.nci.go.th/_v2/ and Line: NCI knows how to fight cancer.
Source: Thai News Agency