WCLC 2023 | The impact of smoking on clinical outcomes for lung cancer treatments

Jacek Jassem, MD, PhD, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland, discusses the effects of smoking on the clinical outcomes of lung cancer treatments. The tolerance of surgery is especially lower in patients with lung cancer who smoke, hence patients are advised to quit before procedures due to the high complication rates. Radiotherapy is suggested to exacerbate inflammatory processes and irritation, and these effects are also worsened by smoking. Systemic therapies such as molecular targeting agents are metabolised faster in smokers with lung cancer and as a result, their tolerance is increased but the efficacy of the treatment is lower. Dr Jassem emphasises that smoking has a negative impact across all modalities of lung cancer treatment. This interview took place at the 2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Singapore, Singapore.

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