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In the August 22 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, August 15), "Lung Cancer: Who's at Risk?" Newsweek reports how Peter Jennings' death and the revelation of Dana Reeve's lung cancer diagnosis is broadening awareness of the disease's risks to ex-smokers, non-smokers and women. Plus: the history behind the Gaza pullout, Bush's private meetings with the families of fallen soldiers, hot colleges, Jack Abramoff's troubles, HBO's two new series and planning end-of-summer family getaways. (PRNewsFoto)
NEW YORK, NY USA
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News of Jennings, Reeve Broadens Awareness of Lung Cancer and Its Risks to
Ex-Smokers, Non-Smokers and Women
National Cancer Institute Unveils $80 Million Research Initiative; 'There's
Been a Blame-the-Victim Mentality for Lung Cancer' Says Institute Adviser.
'Obviously, We Have to do More.'
Developing Technologies Could Improve Early Detection, Treatment
NEW YORK, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- After three decades of the War on Cancer
and four decades of surgeon generals' reports, lung cancer remains the most
devastating of all malignancies. Last week's news that Peter Jennings died
from lung cancer and that Dana Reeve, a non-smoker, had contracted the disease
is garnering increased attention for the illness. Also, late last week, the
National Cancer Institute introduced a new $80 million research initiative
aimed at improving early detection, developing new therapies and combating the
use of tobacco. "There's been a blame-the-victim mentality for lung cancer,"
Dr. Margaret Spitz, the outside adviser who spearheaded the new initiative
tells Newsweek. "Obviously, we have to do more."
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050814/NYSU009 )
In Newsweek's August 22 cover, "Lung Cancer: Who's At Risk?" (on
newsstands Monday, August 15), Senior Editor Geoffrey Cowley and Senior Writer
Claudia Kalb take an in-depth look at the disease from its relatively unknown
status as the deadliest cancer, to new research on causes and risk factors to
up-and-coming technologies and therapies that could one day improve detection
and treatment.
Growing evidence suggests that women are uniquely vulnerable to lung
cancer, Newsweek reports. Whereas nonsmokers account for just 10 percent of
lung cancer among men, they account for twice that fraction among women. One
of the most compelling hypotheses to explain the discrepancy centers on
estrogen. Pharmacologist Jill Siegfried of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer
Institute has shown that estrogen speeds the growth of lung tumors in lab
mice, and she suspects it has the same effect in young women's bodies. If
she's right, drugs that suppress estrogen could open a new frontier in
treatment and even prevention.
Newsweek also looks at a new technique to help catch lung cancer at an
earlier, more-treatable stage: spiral CT scanning. The machine spins around
the chest, assembling as many as 400 images into a 3-D model that can
illuminate even the tiniest lesions in lung tissue. "On a chest X-ray you can
see tumors when they're one to two centimeters," says Dr. Claudia Henschke of
New York Weill Cornell Medical Center. "On a CT scan, you can see them as
small as two millimeters." In a recent study, Henschke and her colleagues
reported that 81 percent of the lung tumors detected through CT screening were
successfully removed at early stages -- and that 96 percent of the treated
patients were still alive eight years later.
The cover story also explores the challenges of creating broader awareness
of lung cancer. Only a handful of charities, most of them local, have focused
on raising money for research. "It's not like going out and raising money for
a kids' cause," says Joel Massel, founder of the Chicago-based LUNGevity
Foundation. "We've tried desperately to get a celebrity spokesman, but it's
been extremely difficult." After more than 30 attempts, the group still lacks
one.
(Read entire cover story at http://www.Newsweek.com .
For news releases, click "Pressroom" at bottom of page.)
Cover: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8942447/site/newsweek/
Jonathan Alter - Appreciation: Peter Jennings:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8942762/site/newsweek/
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