Did you know that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States and the world, killing more Americans this year than breast, prostate, and colon cancer combined?

November's Lung Cancer Awareness Month and so we asked our regional director of the American Lung Association what people should be aware of concerning this disease.  He said one thing that should change is people's perception.

Kurt Goerke, the Regional Director for the American Lung Association warns, "If you say you have lung cancer, it's one of the first questions people will ask, did you smoke.  If you have heart disease people don't say that and yet smoking is a major contributor to heart disease.  It's a perception thing."

Cigarette smoking is by far the biggest risk factor for lung cancer in the U.S., causing an estimated 80% of lung cancers in women and 90% in men.  But there are other causes as well.

"There's a large portion, people have no idea that one of the secondary causes of lung cancer is radon exposure, which is a major problem throughout the United States, which can occur in your house.  You can get exposed daily, have no idea and develop lung cancer from that," explains Goerke.

Lung cancer survivor Marvelle Colby says when it comes to surviving lung cancer, the key, as with all types of cancer, is early detection.

"Breast cancer has mammograms, prostate cancer has PSA's, colon cancer has colonscopies.  What is there?

What is there?  Most people think x-rays and x-rays aren't enough."

And in fact, x-rays may not be enough and Marvelle thinks it's time to stop pointing fingers and start practicing early detection and early treatment, those two things can save lives.

Dr. Lowell Hart, an oncologist at Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center stresses, "any smoker who has any sort of change in pulmonary symptoms should really be investigated and I think one of the messages is that if you're going to really screen or look at someone closely who is a smoker a CAT scan is a much better test."

Treatment for lung cancer is based on the type and stage of tumor and the patient's general medical condition.

Current research for lung cancer is aimed at developing tests that can find lung cancers at an early stage by spotting DNA changes.  But these tests are not yet ready for routine use.