Dr. Garyfalia Karponi
November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. It aims to inform the public about the possible causes and risk factors of the disease, promote the need for preventive screening, and highlight the importance of ongoing research in identifying more effective treatments.
Five key facts about lung cancer are the following:
Although smoking is clearly an aggravating factor for the development of lung cancer, many people do not know that anyone can be diagnozed with lung cancer, whether they smoke or not. Other aggravating factors, apart from smoking, include family history and exposure to radon or asbestos.
The key to managing lung cancer is diagnosing it as early as possible.
Lung cancer may be more difficult to detect at an early stage because it may not be accompanied by common symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath and wheezing.
In many cases, lung cancer is discovered incidentally, as a result of another examination, for example during investigation for possible pneumonia.
The molecular profile in lung cancer plays an important role in the personalized application of therapeutic interventions. Depending on the results, there may be an option for a specific targeted therapy. Testing is performed on the histological or cytological material from the biopsy or specimen obtained after surgical excision. However, even if a person cannot undergo a biopsy, or if their histological or cytological material is not available — for example, if it has been exhausted for other tests or is unsuitable for molecular testing — the patient’s blood can be used as an alternative source for detecting molecular markers, known as liquid biopsy.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.
Garyfalia Karponi, MSc, PhD
Molecular Biologist-Geneticist
Chief Scientific Officer, Department of Molecular Diagnostics