"20 years a pack a day or if someone smoked two packs a day for ten years, that'd still be the same so it's not number of years, it's pack years that we look at," says Maggie Siebeneichen, lung patient navigator.
Doctors say cigarettes are not all to blame. Lung cancer just as easily be caused by secondhand smoking and exposure to radon and asbestos.
During the symposium, doctors provided presentations on the new technologies
"It could be cough, shortness of breath, something called Hemopytsis which is coughing up bloo, rarely is it pain but it's coughing up blood," adds Siebeneichen.
Just like many types of cancer, hearing the news firsthand can bring nothing but worry.
Instead, doctors say your chance of survival depends on how early you visit your physician's office, and which stage the cancer is in.
In Frederick County, Maryland, Dr. Paul Chomiak says there are 150 new cases of lung cancer per year but it does not stop there.
"Well, the state of
It is easier said than done to get someone to quit smoking, a habit that has been going on years, especially in
Doctors say the best prevention for lung cancer is to not smoke at all, quit smoking, and to stand far away from those who do to avoid secondhand smoking.