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Find information about diagnosis, treatment, and living with lung cancer.
Come for one appointment. See multiple specialists. Receive one comprehensive treatment plan. All on one day.
If you smoke, one of the most important steps you can take to improve your health is to quit smoking. Providence Health & Services supports you in this effort. The resources below can help you stop smoking for good.
From the experts
Bringing science education to life, Providence School Outreach hosted more than 125 Portland-area high school students for a live “Chest Watch” surgery as Dr. John Handy, thoracic surgeon with Providence Thoracic Oncology Program, performed an initial lung thoracoscopy and then lobectomy on a life-long smoker.
Your questions answered by Providence lung cancer experts. Find answers to many questions that are commonly asked about smoking, tobacco use and lung cancer.
The 2008 symposium was held November 14 at the Providence Cancer Center in Portland, Oregon. Its objectives included teaching effective procedures to detect lung cancer; becoming familiar with the multidisciplinary approach to managing and treating lung cancer at Providence Cancer Center; and teaching effective ways to address tobacco dependence and to support patients’ efforts to quit smoking.
Q: "I have stage IV lung cancer. Why is chemotherapy sometimes used to treat later stage (Stage IV) lung cancer? What would happen if I did not take chemotherapy?"
Q: "I have lung cancer, what risk is there that my family will develop lung cancer?"
Q: "What are the different types of lung cancer and what treatments are used for each type?"
Q: "What is the real risk of getting lung cancer if you smoke cigarettes and is there a "safe" smoking level?"
Q: I stopped smoking ten years ago, how much risk is there that I will develop lung cancer?
Q: My father and mother smoked during my childhood, what is my risk of lung cancer from this second hand smoke?
Q: What symptoms of lung cancer would be important to have checked out by a physician?
Q: What is a bronchoscopy and why is it used to detect lung cancer?
You already know that smoking is unhealthy. The word has been out since the first Surgeon General’s Report in 1964. One out of four smokers will die from their tobacco addiction. More than 420,000 will die this year. It is the single most preventable cause of death or illness in our country.
Many teenagers and adults think that there are no effects of smoking on their bodies until they reach middle age. Smoking-caused lung cancer, other cancers, heart disease, and stroke typically do not occur until years after a person's first cigarette. However, there are many serious harms from smoking that occur much sooner. In fact, smoking has numerous immediate health effects on the brain and on the respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, immune and metabolic systems.
Imagine, for a moment, being inside your lungs, watching the millions of tiny hairs called cilia do their job of filtering out impurities. Then, observe as the smoke from one cigarette invades the lungs, paralyzing the cilia for 24 hours.
Let’s get specific: Reivew this chart to remind yourself of the risks of smoking and the benefits of quitting.
Providence Thoracic Oncology Program takes a multidisciplinary care approach to treating lung cancer. Your multidisciplinary thoracic oncology care team consists of the following trained specialists:
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