“We cannot catch lung cancer at an early stage”

Prof. Dr. Abdullah Erdoğan, in his statement within the scope of “Lung Cancer Awareness Day”, stated that the complaints that cause discomfort should not be postponed and the recommendations of the doctors should be taken into consideration, “We cannot catch lung cancer in the early stage, stage 1. We catch it at an advanced stage such as stage 2, stage 3 or even stage 4. Let's not postpone our complaints and trust our physicians who have knowledge on this subject. Let's have the surgery when we should have it. Your physician should not say that I cannot operate you when you come for the second time.”

Prof. Dr. Abdullah Erdoğan from Memorial Antalya Hospital General Surgery Department explained what should be known about lung cancer on the occasion of “November 17 Lung Cancer Awareness Day”. Explaining the factors that cause cancer, Prof. Dr. Erdoğan stated that environmental factors come first.

“The region with the highest incidence of lung cancer: Marmara”

Erdoğan said, “Lung cancer is a cancer with a high lethality rate and an increasing incidence with advancing age. It is a cancer that affects all societies of the world. There are some cancers. They are more common in some societies, but lung cancer is not like that. It is becoming the main problem of all societies of the world with advancing age. Although lung cancer can be seen structurally in everyone, it is a type of cancer in which environmental factors are at the forefront and the possibility of cancer is reduced by eliminating environmental factors. If we take the effect of environmental factors at an early age, lung cancer starts to be seen at an early age. We have had patients with lung cancer in their 20s and tried to treat them. But these rarely occur. Generally, lung cancer is a disease of middle and old age and is also associated with environmental factors. To give an example for our country, the most important of these environmental factors are smoking, carbon in the air and polluted air. Therefore, if we consider the regions; Marmara region in Turkey is the region where lung cancer is most common in terms of incidence. Industrialization, tobacco and the use of tobacco products take the lead,” he said.

“If the patient has a complaint that they are aware of, they should have a chest X-ray”

Stating that lung cancer in Turkey cannot be caught at an early stage due to the importance of citizens' complaints, Prof. Dr. Abdullah Erdoğan gave the following statements:

“Awareness is also related to the structure and education of societies. Some societies can understand awareness more easily, take precautions more easily and catch the disease earlier. But even though we have reached this age, we cannot fully raise awareness. For example, we cannot catch lung cancer at an early stage, stage 1. We catch it at an advanced stage such as stage 2, stage 3 or even stage 4. When I ask this question to my patients, I get answers such as; “We did not care about this complaint, I already smoke, I have a cough, I thought it would pass.” These are important things. If the patient smokes or has a different complaint, it would be in his/her best interest to have a chest X-ray or to see a physician.”

“Let's listen to our physicians, not our neighbors”

Emphasizing that the second basic element that will ensure awareness is to listen to physicians, Prof. Dr. Abdullah Erdoğan continued as follows

“There is a belief in our society that is still wrong despite this age. I would like to give an example of a patient who came last week; he came a year and a half ago, brought children, we made the diagnosis or saw the image. We said; there is a problem here, you need to have this removed. He first believed us, said okay, his children approved, he accepted the surgery and left. But his neighbors said, “The lung is not worth a knife”. The patient came back again, but this time we cannot operate. So he has passed the surgery stage. Another friend of ours is treating the patient right now. I don't want to hear such a sentence in this age. There are two important points that we need to be aware of on days like these. First, let us not ignore our complaints. Secondly, if our physicians say something, let's believe them if they have knowledge on that subject, let's think that they probably know more about that subject than our neighbor next door.”

“When we catch the disease at an early stage, we achieve great success in treatment”

Drawing attention to the fact that lung cancer, which is known to be highly lethal, can be treated when caught at an early stage, Prof. Dr. Abdullah Erdoğan concluded his speech as follows:

“We said that lung cancer is a highly lethal cancer, but today medicine is advancing so much that new treatment modalities, new methods are developing and progressing every day. When we catch the disease at an early stage, we achieve great success in treatment. The first treatment method of lung cancer is surgery. We need to catch this patient at the surgical stage. After it has spread to the lymph node, we don't want to use the sentence “Let's have a treatment first and then reconsider surgery after that treatment” in this age. Our awareness should be as follows; let's not postpone our complaints, let's trust our physicians who have knowledge on this subject. Let's have the surgery when we should have it. Your physician should not say, “I cannot operate on you when you come for the second time.”