There are three major forms of lung surgery, each with their own terminology. Understanding the different types of lung surgery may make you more comfortable about your own lung surgery, and will allow you to discuss procedures and options more easily with your doctor. The three main types of lung surgery are a wedge resection, also referred to as a segmentectomy; a lobectomy; and a pneumonectomy. The remainder of this article will examine each of the three types of lung surgery in detail; when each one might be necessary and the different risks associated with each one.

The first procedure is a wedge resection, or a segmentectomy. This is traditionally the least invasive and easiest surgery. In this lung surgery, a small section, or wedge, is removed from the lung. This procedure is minimally invasive, and in some cases, segmentectomies may be performed with an endoscope, as part of a thoracoscopy. This procedure, however, is not common, and open surgery is required most of the time. Unfortunately, the chance of recurrence in cancer is higher when this form of lung surgery is used. However, because only a small section of the lobe is removed, this may be the best surgery if the decrease in lung function that accompanies a lobectomy or pneumonectomy would have serious health risks or consequences.

The lobectomy is the second method, and the most common of the three. In cases where a pneumonectomy is not required and segmentectomy is not necessary, a lobectomy is your best option for lung surgery. In this procedure, one lobe of the lung is removed. There are three lobes in your right lung and two in your left, so this procedure does not usually drastically limit lung performance. Plus, removing the entire lobe ensures that all of the cancer is removed. As a result, this procedure has a much lower rate of recurring cancer than the segmentectomy. And the surgery itself is only minimally more invasive than the segmentectomy.

Finally, a pneumonectomy consists of removing the entire lung, usually if the cancer has been undetected too long and has spread to more than one lobe. This lung surgery is generally a “last resort” because of the decrease in lung perfomance which accompanies it. Because it does reduce lung function so much, this form of lung surgery is rarely considered. When necessary, however, it is an option. The human body can function, albeit not as well, with only one lung, and when the cancer has spread to more than one lobe, the other forms of surgery simply will not be effective. Your doctor may recommend non-surgical procedures for such advanced cancer, if available.

James Woodley is the writer for the website

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According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in its World Cancer Report, by the year 2020, the number of cancer cases will increase by 50%. One-third of these cancers can be prevented, and only one-third can be cured!

Ever since President Nixon first declared the “War On Cancer” in 1971, the Cancer Establishment has been “fighting” a losing battle against cancer. As the WHO’s report said, today only one-third of cancer can be cured. The US government spent more than US$2 billion each year trying to find the “elusive magic bullet” to cure cancer. So far no cure is in sight! On the other hand, it allocates less than 5% of its budget – i.e. less than US$50 million to research on preventive measures. According to the WHO, one-third of cancers can be prevented – but why are people not interested to learn and know more about preventive measures? Obviously Somebody-Up-There have got their priority mixed up – understandably for a good reason – to protect Vested Interests.

Rachel Carson wrote in: Silent Spring, “For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death … We are living in the sea of carcinogens.” Zillah Eisenstein, professor of politics, in her book: Man-made Breast Cancers, wrote: “One is not born with breast cancer. One develops it. It grows over time … Breast tissues appears to be more vulnerable to damage from carcinogens, pesticides, radiation, biopsy needles, etc.” Quoting Sharon Thomson, she wrote: “What is happening to our earth is happening to our breasts.” Studies show that the blood in breast cancer patients contains 35% more DDE (a metabolite of DDT) than that of healthy women.”

If it takes billions and billions of dollars to cure only 33% of cancers, how much does it take to prevent 33% of cancers? Dirt cheap by any comparison! The New Straits Times, 16 December 2006, carried a report by Donald Berry of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre which said that: “Breast cancer rates plunged an unprecedented 7% in 2003; the year after millions of women stopped taking menopause hormones.” NOT taking HRT/ERT pills costs NO money and by doing just that breast cancer rate dropped by 7%.

After spending billions of dollars trying to make new chemo-drugs, this is what experts say about the benefits of chemotherapy for cancer cure. Doctors in Australia, Graeme Morgan, Robyn Ward and Michael Baton wrote that in Australia, of the 10,661 people who had breast cancer and underwent chemotherapy, only 164 people survived 5 years. This works out to be 1.5% contribution of chemotherapy to five-year survival. This is a classical case of big money chasing after elusive outcomes!

Look at the figures again. Don’t you think that prevention – i.e. just by not taking ERT/HRT, is far cheaper and safer than getting cancer first and going for chemotherapy after that?

But why are people not interested in Prevention? As I have said many times before, prevention makes no money. It supports no industry. On the contrary it hurts industries of all nature. Take for example, if there is a fall in cancer rates, there would be less hospitals to build (the building contractors are not happy!), we don’t need more oncologists, the radiation machines will be less in use, there would be less need for chemo-drugs, less of X-ray films, and even there would be less tourists coming to the country seeking medical treatments (even the tourism industry is affected!). Prevention does not only affect the medical-pharmaceutical industries, equally hurt are the numerous industries that generate chemicals and by-products that pollute Planet Earth.

What can we do about it? The key is education – dissemination of honest, unbiased knowledge to all. We have a choice to either flow with the stream and become sick, or take responsibility of our health and say no to anything that pollute our body and our environment. Learn for ourselves and take preventive measures.

For more information about complementary cancer therapy visit cacare.com cacare.com, NaturalHealingForYou.com NaturalHealingForYou.com, BookOnCancer.com BookOnCancer.com

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Tags: breast cancer, cancer patient, cancer prevention, chemotherapy, healing

Medicine is a science of statistics and nowhere is this more apparent than in cancer treatment.

Here is a guide to understanding some of the statistical terms you will run into when discussing cancer treatment.

Firstly, you need to know that no one can predict with total certainty any patient’s exact outcome. Instead, cancer mortality rates are based on the outcomes of large numbers of people who have had the same disease. In other words, the statistics that will be quoted to you are only probabilities.

A second thing to know is that not all cancers have the same outcomes. In other words — some cancers are deadlier than others.

And the third thing to realize is that the probability of being cured depends very much on the stage of your cancer.

For example, in all cancers, patients with stage 1 disease have better survival rates than patients with stage 2 disease. And patients with stage 2 disease have better survival rates than patients with stage 3 disease. And stage 3 patients have better survival rates than stage 4 patients.

That’s why it’s so critical for you to know what stage of the disease you have.

What is 5 year survival?

When doctors quote the probability of survival, they don’t tell you that you’re supposed to live 3 years and 3 months. Instead, they quote you a figure that’s called the 5 year survival. This number represents the probability that someone with your disease will be alive at the end of 5 years.

For example, if the 5 year survival is 25%, this means that the odds of being alive after 5 years are 25%. It’s important to look at the particular group of patient for whom the 5 year survival is being quoted. For example, it could include all patients with a certain type of cancer or it could only include patients with a certain stage of that cancer.

For example, 49 percent, or about half, of people diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer live for at least five years after diagnosis. So, the five year survival for early-stage lung cancer is 49%. Contrast this with the five year survival rate for people diagnosed with lung cancer that has spread (metastasized) to other areas of the body which is only 3 percent.

So, as you can see, you want to find out what the survival rate is for patients with the same stage of disease.

What is remission?

Remission refers to a shrinking of a cancer. Remissions can either be complete or partial depending on whether or not any evidence of cancer remains. Obviously, if no cancer can be found after treatment then the remission is complete.

If the cancer is smaller but hasn’t disappeared completely then the patient has experienced a partial remission.

A complete remission may represent a cure. But there is still a chance that the cancer will return depending on the type of cancer. In people who achieve only partial remissions, the cancer nearly always regrows.

Are there any other statistical terms I should be aware of?

The 5 year survival rate tells you how many people are alive at the end of 5 years but it doesn’t tell you how many of these people are in complete remission at the end of 5 years (in other words how many people have survived for 5 years and have no evidence of cancer).

So here are two more specific terms:

Disease-free 5 year survival rate. This is the percentage of people who are not only alive after 5 years but are in complete remission.

Progression-free 5 survival rate. This is the percentage of people who are alive after 5 years but who still have evidence of cancer, although the cancer isn’t progressing. This includes people who may have had some success with treatment but not enough to completely eradicate their cancer.

Two other statistical terms that you should be aware of are relative risk and absolute risk:

Absolute Risk Reduction Or Benefit. This is the absolute difference in results between alternatives. So, for example, if treatment A increased survival by 22% and treatment B increased survival by 20% then treatment A resulted in an absolute benefit of (22%-20%) = 2%.

Relative Risk Reduction Or Benefit. This is the relative difference in results between alternatives. So, in the above example, the relative benefit is (22%-20%)/20% = 10%. This number is calculated by taking the difference in outcome as a percentage.

You should beware that often results are presented as relative risk reduction or benefit because the numbers sound more impressive. For example, in the above example, a relative benefit of 10% sounds more impressive than an absolute benefit of 2%.

Hopefully, now you’ll be able to be a little more discerning about cancer statistics.

Dr. Glenn Sheiner is a medical doctor with diplomas in Emergency Medicine, Sports Medicine, and Family Medicine. Dr. Sheiner is the author of the medical multimedia digital product called Cancer Research Online Made Easy.

Dr. Sheiner created this product to help patients research cutting-edge medical information in hours not days. The product contains 5 videos illustrating exactly what you need to do. To learn more go to researchyourcancer.com www.researchyourcancer.com

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The mysteries of cancer have eluded us for years. However, we are beginning to learn many pieces of valuable information about how to prevent many different kinds of cancer. And, of course, once we learn more about how to prevent the disease, we can better understand how to treat it, as well. Research is ongoing, and scientists are learning much about this disease, though there still is much to learn.

One form of cancer that plagues many men is prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer found in American men, other than skin cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be about 234,460 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States in 2006. About 27,350 men will die of this disease.

Prostate cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in men, after lung cancer and colorectal cancer. While 1 man in 6 will get prostate cancer during his lifetime, only 1 man in 34 will die of this disease. Earlier detection and better treatments are making the death rate for this disease go down.

Yet, there is still much work to do to learn the causes of prostate cancer and to develop more reliable treatments. If we can further our research and learn the causes of more types of cancer, including prostate cancer, then we will be well on our way to preventing more incidences of this disease.

There have been some promising findings, and it appears that one thing that we can do to prevent prostate cancer is to include green tea in our diet. We’ve learned through research that green tea has the ability to prevent many forms of cancer, prostate cancer among them. Studies of Asian culture, where green tea consumption is high and cancer incidences are much lower have led to the understanding of how green tea can help in this area.

One study of particular interest was reported by the UK Tea Council. This study showed that green tea consumption appears to have the ability to act as a sort of scavenger against a substance called Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS).* ROS are a form of free radicals that cause cell damage.

This particular form of free radical appears to be one that especially contributes to the development of prostate cancer, when it is produced in excess. But, the anti-oxidants contained in green tea have the particular abilities to get at these free radicals and eradicate them, preventing them from developing into cancer cells.

So, it appears that prostate cancer is just one of the many that green tea may have the power to prevent. And, the power appears to be in the anti-oxidants that are found in green tea. Anti- oxidants are important because they combat free radicals, like ROS, in our bodies. These free radicals are created as a by product of converting the food we eat to energy.

When free radicals are not kept in check, they damage our cells and DNA. This leads to faster aging and a higher risk of many diseases, including cancer.

For this reason, a diet high in anti-oxidants is now believed to be one of the best ways to prevent disease and premature aging. And, green tea, along with certain fruits and vegetables provide some of the most potent sources of these important substances. If you’re not already doing so, add pomegranates, blueberries, artichokes, tomatoes and asparagus to your diet. These fruits and vegetables have been found to have the most potent anti-oxidants. And, wash it all down with green tea.

One great reason that green tea is such a good way to prevent disease and protect health is that it has no side effects, so everyone can use it. Even those who are sensitive to caffeine can usually tolerate green tea quite well. Green tea is far lower in caffeine than coffee or black tea. In addition, the caffeine in green tea doesn’t appear to cause a fast heart rate and jitters the way that many other caffeine containing beverages do.

The news about prostate cancer and green tea is important to deliver, particularly to American men. On average, the American man is far more likely to drink coffee than tea. And, when American men do drink tea, they are much more likely to drink black tea. So, we should spread the word to all the men in our lives that green tea is a powerful health protector.

So, make green tea part of your healthy lifestyle, particularly if you happen to be a man. Green tea is refreshing and delicious. And, green tea may be a simple and important way to prevent disease and ensure that we live long and healthy lives. So, whether your pleasure is hot or iced, have your cup of green tea today and every day!

Jon M. Stout is the Chairman of the Golden Moon Tea Company. Golden Moon Tea carefully selects the finest rare and orthodox teas, which are processed slowly and handcrafted with extreme care. At their website, you can learn more about their current

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Tags: colorectal cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer

Choosing a doctor that is right for you can make all the difference in your treatment experience. Below are doctors with national and international reputations for their work with mesothelioma patients. The American Cancer Society has provided a checklist of topics to consider and questions to ask your doctor which may be helpful in choosing a doctor as your treating physician or to get a second opinion.



A Mesothelioma diagnosis can be stressful for anyone and therefore you will have a lot of questions. The following worksheets will guide you in asking the right questions when consulting a doctor about what the right course of treatment is best for you.

www.mirg.org/worksheets

Where Do I Go From Here?

After diagnosis, it is important to understand your treatment options. Your doctor or oncologist will provide you with information on the treatments that are available to you.

If you have mesothelioma, or any other asbestos-related disease, you were most likely exposed to asbestos. Many of the manufacturers of asbestos insulation products knew for decades that asbestos was hazardous, yet made a business decision not to warn people of those hazards. As a result, you may have a right of recovery against those manufacturers, which can help defray the costs of treatment and provide compensation for your pain and suffering.

mirg.org mirg.org

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