Workplace exposure, pollution can also cause lung cancer – specialist

Yes, even non-smokers can get lung cancer.

Such is the case with Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, who on Wednesday introduced herself at a televised press conference as "the only senator who has been diagnosed with lung cancer."

Santiago, who neither smokes nor drinks, revealed to reporters that she has Stage Four cancer of the left lung, found after she underwent a biopsy last June 21.

"It is not spreading," she told reporters, adding that she hopes to be cured in six weeks through medication called molecular targeting, or chemotherapy "reduced to a tablet."

The numbers of recorded deaths from lung cancer in the past years, however, are bleak. Data from the World Health Organization shows that lung cancer is the most common type of cancer in the world, accounting for 1.59 million deaths in 2012.

In the Philippines, it is the leading cause of death among men and the third in women, next to breast and cervical cancers, an Unang Hirit report on Wednesday said.

Other factors

According to Dr. Guia Elena Imelda Ladreda, pulmonologist and oncologist at the Lung Center of the Philippines, about 90 percent of patients with lung cancer got it by smoking.

However, she revealed in an interview with Unang Hirit that other factors, such as the nature of work and the environment, are causes for this type of cancer in a minority of cases.

"'Yung sampung porsiyento, puwede itong nakuha sa occupation, sa trabaho. 'Yung halimbawa, exposure sa asbestos [among construction workers], 'yung mga minero na naka-expose sa radon gas," Ladreda said. "Puwede din po, 'yung sa maliit na porsiyento, one percent, dahil sa pollution."
 


Among these pollutions is secondhand smoke. According to the American Cancer Society, exposure to such can lead to a variety of health problems, lung cancer included.

Ladreda also said there's a chance that this can also spring from previous diseases, such as tuberculosis (TB), or if there is a history of cancer in the family.

"May teorya po na 'yung dating pagkakaroon ng tuberculosis, 'yun pong nagkapeklat sa baga, meron pong maliit na porsiyento [ng mga pasyente] na kapag finallow-up mo 'yung dating scar daw ng TB, nagiging bukol siya," she said. "At siyempre, 'wag nating kalimutan 'yung namamana."

Indications

According to Ladreda, chronic coughing is a symptom often overlooked, only given attention to once blood is found in the phlegm.

"Nakita ko sa aking personal na experience na ang pagkakaroon ng dugo sa plema, ito ang number one na dahilan kung [bakit] sumusugod kaagad sila [sa doktor]," she said. "Pero 'yung ubo, hindi nila masyadong pinapansin."

Other symptoms of lung cancer include:
* shortness of breath,
* chest pain made worse by deep breathing, coughing, or laughing,
* feeling tired and weak, and
* a new onset of wheezing.

Ladreda also showed X-ray results of a healthy pair of lungs, putting it beside a pair that has cancer.

A normal pair of lungs, when viewed via X-ray, is black in color because it is filled with air, she said.

"Kumpara po dito, makikita natin na mayroong whiteness," Ladreda said of the X-ray result of someone with lung cancer. "'Yan po ay isang bagang may kalat-kalat na maliliit na bukol at saka tubig."

Better chances at treatment?

Data from the American Lung Association from 2003 to 2009 showed that the five-year survival rate for lung cancer is 53.5 percent for cases detected "when the disease is still localized [within the lungs]."

"However, only 15 percent of lung cancer cases are diagnosed at an early stage," it said.

Ladreda said there are other available options for treatment aside from the standard chemotherapy from an IV line, such as the medication Santiago is taking.

"Chemotherapy ito na mas angkop dahil siguro sa tumor may nakita silang mutation du'n sa gene nu'ng tumor," she said. "Siguro po sa ngayon, sa kagandahan ng mga gamot na available, maganda po ang nakikita nating posibilidad na marami sa may ganitong karamdaman, mas maganda na po 'yung outcome ng treatment in terms of survival." — Rose-An Jessica Dioquino/BM/KG, GMA News