November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and lung cancer is a condition everyone should be aware of.

In the West Midlands 179 people have benefited from early detection through lung cancer screening in the last 12 months. Many had no symptoms.

Lung cancer is normally associated with smoking and smokers. But around 30 per cent of the 43,000 people in the UK diagnosed with lung cancer each year have never smoked.

Dr Imran Hussain of the West Midlands Cancer Alliance said: “The number of smokers has dramatically reduced in recent decades which is very welcome. The banning of smoking in public indoor spaces has also helped. However lung cancer is still the single largest cause of death from cancer in the UK.

“That’s why everyone needs an awareness of the symptoms and to act quickly if they are concerned.”

Common symptoms include a persistent cough, coughing up blood, persistent breathlessness, unexplained tiredness and weight loss and an ache or pain when breathing or coughing.

However there can be little or no symptoms in the early stages.

“That is why it is so important that lung cancer screening is being rolled out across the West Midlands. In the last 12 months over 20,000 people have benefitted from Lung Health Checks across the West Midlands. This has resulted in 179 people having treatment for Stage 1 or 2 Lung Cancer, which carries a very good chance of successful treatment.

“Screening is aimed at those who are statistically most vulnerable, which is people aged 55-74 who are smokers or ex-smokers.

“It can pick up tumours in people who have absolutely no symptoms, leading to prompt treatment which in most cases is completely successful.”

You can find out more about lung cancer from the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation

You can watch a short video where former smoker Jeffrey Compton describes how lung cancer screening helped him