Among all types of cancer, lung cancer ranks first as a cause of death in the United States. Sally Lau, MD, a medical oncologist at NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, talks with MedicalResearch.com about risk factors, symptoms, and treatment for lung cancer.

While smoking cessation programs have decreased lung cancer deaths, smoking remains the number one risk factor for developing lung cancer, and the effects of vaping on lung cancer risk remain unknown, she says. In addition, lung cancer is increasingly diagnosed in people who do not smoke.

“Lung cancer is not just one disease,” says Dr. Lau, also an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “As we are learning more about its biology, we have new treatments that are much more effective with much fewer side effects. For many patients with lung cancer with advanced disease the prognosis has dramatically improved, often measured in years with treatment. Our goal, however, is to identify these patients earlier and treat with the new drugs to improve the cure rates.”

Read more from MedicalResearch.com.