Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is cancer that begins in the lungs.  It is the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women, although the survival rate has improved slightly in recent years.  Cigarette smoking is the most common risk factor for lung cancer, with almost 90 percent of all lung cancers attributable to smoking or secondhand exposure to cigarette smoke.

The lung cancer experts at The James have dedicated their lives to supporting and caring for cancer patients and their families, and our specialized team approach provides the best cancer research and treatment.  Physicians and researchers at Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute are continually seeking new answers to questions about lung cancer.  Recent research advancements include:

• An $8 million award from Ohio's Third Frontier program to launch a massive effort to better prevent, detect and treat lung cancer.  The award is expected to attract an additional $13.5 million from the project's commercial partners, helping to position Ohio as an international leader in innovative strategies and technologies in fighting the world's deadliest malignancy.  Read more...
• Studies led by Miguel Villalona, MD, that address the selection of systemic therapy according to molecular changes in tumors – an approach considered by some scientists to be the “holy grail” for advanced metastatic lung cancer.  Read more...
  
• Gregory Otterson, MD, is leading a multi-institutional study of inhalation chemotherapy for previously untreated, advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Surgical resection remains a mainstay of therapy for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer; however, multimodality therapy utilizing chemotherapy and radiation therapy has become an increasingly important part of all treatment plans. Combining innovative therapies, such as photodynamic therapy and radio frequency ablation, with other forms of intervention, such as chemotherapy, has enabled our team to offer surgery to a larger percentage of patients.  In fact, this includes patients who previously may have been considered unresectable.

The lung cancer team at The James has been at the forefront of initiatives to combine multiple treatment modalities to optimize a treatment plan for each patient.

• Under the direction of Patrick Ross, MD, PhD, the photodynamic program at Ohio State has grown to one of the leading centers in the country. Photodynamic therapy is used for curative, palliative and combined modality treatments in lung cancer. Ohio State continues to use this innovative technology in new and exciting ways.
• As a center with expertise in treating end-stage lung disease (lung volume reduction surgery and lung transplantation), the team at Ohio State has been able to treat lung cancer patients.  Many patients whose lung disease is so severe that they would have been excluded from surgery have been optimized by medical management and smoothly brought through lung resections.