Lung cancer is very harmful to human body, but lung cancer can be prevented, and it can be consciously prevented in all aspects. Only with the knowledge of lung cancer prevention can we raise our awareness of lung cancer prevention and consciously prevent lung cancer.
There are three levels of lung cancer prevention, which are briefly described below.
Tertiary prevention is a measure taken in the clinical stage of the disease in order to reduce the harm of the disease, mainly including symptomatic treatment and rehabilitation treatment, with the purpose of preventing disability and promoting functional recovery, improving survival quality, prolonging life expectancy and reducing disease death rate.
I. Primary prevention of lung cancer
(i) Smoking control
As mentioned earlier, smoking is the main cause of lung cancer, in China, although some places, especially large cities, have implemented legislation prohibiting smoking in public places, but it is still very imperfect, at the same time, people’s awareness of the dangers of smoking is far from adequate, the smoking rate among men is still high, and in some places, especially in the north, there are still a significant proportion of women smoking. Therefore, control of smoking is the primary measure for primary prevention.
① Strengthen the propaganda, organized and planned in the masses to carry out smoking is harmful to health, cancer prevention must be resolutely do not smoke and quit smoking health education. Starting with elementary schools, the health risks of smoking are included in the curriculum. Medical personnel, school teachers, literary and sports workers, journalists, and administrative leaders at all levels should take the lead in not smoking and serve as role models for the general public.
② Adopt laws and related regulations, such as a ban on smoking in public places a ban on selling cigarettes to minors, and a ban on tobacco advertising.
③ Raise taxes on cigarettes and the price of cigarettes.
(ii) Improve the environment
Improving indoor and outdoor air quality is another important means of preventing lung cancer, and this aspect requires the participation of national government departments and the general public as a whole.
(iii) Conducting labor hygiene and strengthening occupational protection to prevent occupational lung cancer
① Government departments should supervise and manage industrial and mining enterprises.
② Reform the production process, reduce dust and fumes, reduce the concentration of harmful substances in the environment, continuously improve the degree of automation, mechanization and confinement of production, and producers avoid or reduce direct contact with known carcinogenic factors.
③ Strengthen personal protection, pay attention to formal operation during production, change out of work clothes after production, wash and shower, and do not take home work clothes.
④ Regularly monitor the concentration of harmful substances in the environment, which should not exceed the national allowable standard, and take effective protective measures in time.
⑤ Regular medical check-ups, if occupational-related precancerous lesions or early cancers are found, they should be treated promptly and transferred away from the occupational environment with carcinogenic factors.
(iv) Dietary prevention and chemoprevention
Chemoprevention of lung cancer aims to prevent and control lung cancer by using drugs, foods or nutrients to intervene in precancerous lesions, prevent the occurrence of lung cancer and differentiate and reverse tumor cells.
Secondary prevention of lung cancer
The primary screening and early diagnosis of lung cancer mainly apply x-ray examination (fluoroscopy, small chest film, frontal and lateral chest film, tomography film, CT film), sputum exfoliative cytology examination and fiber bronchoscopy, etc. In the United States, three large randomized controlled clinical trials were conducted to evaluate the role of sputum cytology and x-ray examination in lung cancer screening in the early years, and screening of the general population was not advocated because it did not significantly reduce lung cancer mortality. With the completion of the Human Genome Project and the beginning of proteomic research, many new technologies and methods have emerged, and it has gradually become possible to find ideal tumor markers for screening, early diagnosis, prognosis and guiding individual treatment of common tumors, so as to predict individual risk of lung cancer and provide early diagnosis and treatment for patients.
Tertiary prevention of lung cancer
Although there has been great progress in clinical treatment of lung cancer in recent years, the 5-year relative survival rate of lung cancer is still low, generally less than 15%, due to the lack of simple, practical and effective methods for lung cancer patients to make correct diagnosis quickly, and the opportunity for early diagnosis and treatment is lost when the pathological diagnosis is made, as well as the characteristics of lung cancer itself. Tertiary prevention is to prevent recurrence and metastasis through comprehensive and effective treatment, focus on rehabilitation, palliative and pain management, and provide physical, psychological, nutritional and exercise guidance to maximize the survival rate and quality of life of patients.
If prevention can be carried out according to the above three levels, the incidence of lung cancer can be greatly reduced.