#LCSM Chat Topic 3/22: Slicing the Pie–How Can Lung Cancer Patient Groups, Clinicians, and Researchers Best Work Together?

Lung cancer management has shifted from a broadly defined process to one increasingly recognized as narrow subgroups that have distinct patterns of cancer biology and optimal treatments.  The first patient group to splinter into a separate branch of management was the approximately 10% of people with EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC, and the treatment options for them continue to become deeper and more complex as we gain more active agents and struggle with enviable problems like the best sequencing and protection of the brain against metastatic spread. Other “driver mutations” such as ALK and… Read More

#LCSM Chat Topic 22-Feb-2018: Lung cancer research–Why we need it and how we can get more

“Cancer research” is a broad term that encompasses everything from basic bench science, to translational research on patient-derived tumor specimens, to clinical trials, to studies on patient centered outcomes.  While it is obvious to all of us in the lung cancer community that research is critical to improving patient outcomes, lung cancer remains underfunded compared to other common cancers. Several different mechanisms exist to fund cancer research, including private philanthropy, Big Pharma, not-for-profit cancer research and advocacy groups, and government organizations including the DOD and NIH/NCI among others. Given funding imbalances, it… Read More

#LCSM Chat Topic 11/30:  Expanding the web of knowledge in #lungcancer

We end lung cancer awareness month with a very interesting topic.  The next #LCSM Tweet Chat on Thursday, November 30th at 5 PM Pacific/ 8 PM Eastern will discuss “Expanding the web of knowledge in #lungcancer.” The moderator for this chat is Dr. David Tom Cooke (@DavidCookeMD). There is a vast amount of information on the optimal treatments and approaches to beat lung cancer.  Whether it is lung cancer screening, surgery for early stage disease, SBRT for patients with early stage disease who are not candidates for surgery, the importance of molecular… Read More