Remarkable advances in screening, diagnosing and treating lung cancer are discussed in this Podcast. Associate Professor Nick Pavlakis, Medical Oncologists from Royal North Shore Hospital Sydney and Dr Emily Stone, Respiratory Physician from St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney join TOGA for a conversation about public health measures to ensure the survival increase we are seeing for patients with lung cancer continues to accelerate into this decade.

Sponsored with a Takeda Educational Grant.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related deaths in Australia, and lung cancer in never smokers is still the seventh leading cause of death. Lung cancer kills more women every year than breast, ovarian and uterine cancers combined even though many seem to think that the only cancer women ever get is breast cancer! More young women are being diagnosed every year who have never smoked – around 1/3 of new diagnoses fit this category for women.

Thankfully this statistic is declining.

Higher awareness, earlier screening and targeted treatments have played a role in better outcomes for lung cancer patients, as has the identification of driver mutations that can cause some lung cancers.

Alexandra’s story is inspiring. Diagnosed with lung cancer 8 years ago, her treatments have varied due to the discovery of a rare mutation called ALK and she is now involved in an innovative clinical trial using a targeted agent for patients with the ALK gene rearrangements. 

In this Podcast, Mark Scott talks with Alexandra about her challenges in diagnosis, searching for the best treatments available, living in a regional area and what it’s like to be involved in lung cancer clinical trials. 

Alexandra is redefining survival rates for those with lung cancer and bringing new hope for patients all around the world.

Join us for a conversation with internationally recognized Medical Oncologists and researchers, Professor Ben Solomon & Associate Professor Tom John as they discuss the increased survival benefits for patients with oncogene driven lung cancer and how novel treatments are contributing.

Oncogenes discussed include EGFR & osimertinib; ALK & brigatinib, alectinib, lorlatinib; ROS1 & crizotinib, entrectinib; KRAS & sotorasib; G12C; Exon20 insertions & poziotinib, amivantamab, RET & selpercatinib, pralcetinib. Also discussed – the importance of the move beyond single gene testing to panels and NGS is important to maximise turn-around times and the efficient utilization of clinical samples.