Gee Che, what an auspicious name, and I have a few friends and classmates around me with the same name.
Today, however, came the sad news that basketball player Ji Zhe died of lung cancer on December 5, 2019, at the age of 33.
(Source: Screenshot from Beijing Shougang Basketball Club Weibo)
I vaguely remember that the news of his cancer was known to me from the beginning, and not from public media reports. I’m a thoracic surgeon at a cancer hospital, and I’m sensitive to all kinds of news related to lung cancer because it’s my job to diagnose and treat lung cancer and research it. I’ve been following basketball for more than a decade.
It’s like when I met Yao Beina on The Voice and learned that she had breast cancer, and I’ve been following this wonderful singer ever since.
The first time I heard the news about her illness was when she died of advanced breast cancer in Shenzhen Hospital of Peking University in less than two years.
We were surprised and saddened by the rapid death of such an outstanding professional athlete from cancer.
At the same time, many people wonder: Why would a young athlete develop lung cancer?
Athletes are supposed to be physically fit, and good physical talent combined with hard and regular physical training is a must for becoming a professional athlete. But even so, Ji Zhe did not escape the fate of dying from lung cancer.
I think his lung cancer may have been due to an acquired somatic gene mutation that rewrote the script of his life due to a DNA mismatch, and ultimately an accident.
Lung cancer is the king of cancers, with a cure rate of less than 20%
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Lung cancer is the number one malignant tumor worldwide in terms of incidence, number of deaths, and death rate. The annual incidence rate of lung cancer in China is about 57 per 100,000 people, and the annual death rate is about 80% of the incidence rate, which varies by region and ethnicity, but the authoritative data, which is updated annually, basically does not change much.
In other words, more than 80% of lung cancer patients will eventually die from lung cancer. This means that the disease currently has a cure rate of less than 20%.
The diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer is still not optimistic, because more than 80% of lung cancers, once detected, are already advanced, with a cure rate of less than 20%. Who are the people who tend to have easily curable lung cancer?
Generally, it’s the early stage patients. If lung cancer can be detected when it is in the early stages of the disease, such as stage Ia lung cancer, the surgical cure rate is close to 100%.
While there have been breakthroughs in recent years with the rapid development of targeted drugs and immunologic agents for lung cancer that have allowed many patients with advanced lung cancer to live longer as a result, they are limited to specific populations.
Early screening is important to prevent lung cancer
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The painful loss of a young life also brings us some insights. To prevent lung cancer, in addition to not smoking or quitting, staying away from coal smoke and air pollution, early screening to detect and intervene early is also very important.
Long-term smokers, those with a family history of lung cancer, and those with a history of long-term exposure to adverse air environments are at high risk for lung cancer and are the most important people for timely early screening for lung cancer. It is recommended that these high-risk individuals have a low-dose CT scan of the chest every 1 to 2 years.
If you are not at high risk, but are over 45 years old, live in a place with high air pollution, and are concerned about your risk of lung cancer, you may also consider a low-dose spiral CT and then regular screening as recommended by your doctor.
(Low-dose spiral CT)
It is important to note that x-ray chest radiographs in routine physical exams are not a recommended screening tool today and can miss many patients with early-stage lung cancer.
What symptoms may be a red flag for lung cancer?
The symptoms of lung cancer do not match the severity of the disease. Early central lung cancer can have very obvious symptoms such as cough, blood in the sputum, and fever, but many advanced lung cancers can have no symptoms because the organs are still well compensated.
Even so, it is recommended that people with persistent unremitting cough, blood in the sputum, chest pain, and unexplained weight loss seek medical attention to diagnose such diseases such as lung cancer as early as possible.
If chest pain, dizziness, or hoarseness is caused by lung cancer, it is often a sign that it is no longer early. And symptoms such as coughing and blood in the sputum are not predictive of the severity of the disease.
Current treatments for lung cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, interventional therapy, and combined Chinese and Western medicine. Surgery is recommended for early-stage lung cancer, multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment is recommended for progressive lung cancer, and drug therapy is the main treatment for advanced lung cancer.
Although I am a thoracic surgeon who faces many lung cancer patients every day, I cannot comment on the news that Ji Che has lung cancer because I am not a treating physician and do not know the specific condition. However, it is recommended that people should not panic about lung cancer because of this. We should pay more attention to our health and understand the disease scientifically in order to better prevent and beat it.
We sorrowfully remember Ji Che. May he have a good journey, and may heaven have only a bright tomorrow, without accidents and illnesses.