Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate and is the 2nd most common cancer in Hong Kong¹. There are nearly 5,000 new cases every year with over 3,000 deaths². One of the reasons for such a high mortality rate is that prominent symptoms are uncommon in the early stages. Symptoms like persistent cough, shortness of breath, coughing up blood and bone pain may only emerge at stage III and IV, a time when the cancer cells may have already spread to other organs and passed the prime time for treatment. Though smokers have greater chances of developing lung cancer, non-smokers should never let down their guard as lung cancer due to genetic mutation is actually quite common among non-smoking Asian women.

When tumor is discovered in the lungs, a genetic test of the tumor is necessary sometimes to identify the most suitable treatment. To race against time, private hospitals that have their own laboratory can perform tissue biopsy and liquid (blood) biopsy to streamline and expedite the process, and achieve the diagnosis in about 3 days. In addition, in the past few years, we saw significant breakthroughs in lung cancer treatment, one of them being the new-generation targeted therapy. The new generation treatment not only act on the primary cancer, but it is also effective on metastasis, including brain metastasis, keeping the growth of tumor under control in the long run. This allows patients to survive with cancer while maintaining a normal life, at a treatment cost of tens of thousand dollars a month.

To provide you with more information on lung cancer and the latest treatment options, AXA has worked with the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital to produce a real-case video to demonstrate the course of incident from the emergence of symptoms to performing tests and receiving treatment.

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Source:

1. Overview of Hong Kong Cancer Statistics of 2017, Hong Kong Cancer Registry, Hospital Authority:

https://www3.ha.org.hk/cancereg/pdf/overview/Summary%20of%20CanStat%202017.pdf

2. Hong Kong Cancer Registry:

https://www3.ha.org.hk/cancereg/topten.html