4 ms·

The good thing is in most people (particularly smokers) it is very slow growing. We also have great non-invasive curative treatment options like stereotactic r

• jorvi 3y ago
  Don’t smokers account for ~99% of cases of small-cell lung cancer, which is by far the worst type to have (very prone to metastasis and grows rapidly)?
  • haldujai 3y ago
    Small-cell (SCLC) is definitely very aggressive and more strongly associated with smoking than non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), I'm not sure about 99% but that seems too high. It's fairly rare though, the quoted numbers from SEER are 14% but from a clinical perspective most of us that deal with lung cancer feel that's discordant with our practices and likely an overestimate. In either case, smoker or non-smoker you're far more likely to develop NSCLC with adenocarcinoma being more common than squamous cell (typically only in smokers for the latter but still less common than adenocarcinoma). The typical adenocarcinoma most people get has a doubling time of roughly 1-2 years.
    • jorvi 3y ago
      > I'm not sure about 99% but that seems too high. I double checked, only 2.5% of SCLC incidences is from non-smokers.