Early diagnosis is vital in lung cancer fight

Published on Thursday 27 November 2008 09:17

LUNG cancer is Scotland's biggest cancer killer and a new person is diagnosed with this disease every 15 minutes. In total, that equates to more than 38,000 people being told they have lung cancer each year throughout the UK.

Indeed, last year in Scotland, more than 4000 people – almost 600 in the Lothians – died of this horrible disease.

One of the reasons why lung cancer has one of the lowest survival rates of any cancer is because all too often it is diagnosed at a late stage.

Some of its symptoms, at first anyway, may seem innocuous and can be mistaken for a host of other illnesses.

This, coupled with our general reluctance to visit the GP, means that medical attention is only sought when the disease has progressed significantly.

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month – a time when Macmillan Cancer Support and The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation are attempting to highlight the importance of early diagnosis.

Earlier this month, Scotland manager George Burley backed the charities' campaign and wrote to football clubs across Scotland, urging fans to look out for the early signs of this devastating disease.

The former Hearts manager's message is appearing in match programmes and he is encouraging people to seek advice from their GP.

Symptoms can include a persistent cough, incessant chest infections, unexplained breathlessness and a lack of energy. Some patients also begin to lose weight dramatically, experience shoulder pain and begin to cough up blood.

I work as one of a team of specialist nurses working in the field of lung cancer. We know that early diagnosis does save lives, so it's vital that people take any symptoms seriously.

&#149 You can learn more by visiting www.roycastle.org or www.macmillan.org.uk/lung or by calling The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Helpline on 0800 358 7200 or the Macmillan Cancerline on 0808 808 2020.

Gillian Whitson is an oncology nurse specialist based at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary