Lung cancer in the 21st century

• Medicine in modern Britain has seen great advances in the 20th and 21st centuries as technology developed and the government became more involved in the health of the British people
• Factors that have influenced medicine in the 20th century and beyond

  • Improvements in technology - magic bullets
  • Better access to care
  • Improvements in technology - diagnosing and treating illness
• Lung cancer


  One of the most common cancers in Britain, killing thousands every year
• Smoking


  The main cause of lung cancer
• Passive smoking


  Can also result in lung cancer
• Until the mid-20th century, smoking was incredibly common and very few people would have regarded it as a dangerous activity
• Smoking was even allowed in doctors' surgeries and many medical professionals smoked
• During World War Two, cigarettes were provided as part of a soldier's rations
• CT scan


  A computerised tomography scan that uses X-rays and a computer to create detailed images of the inside of the body
• Ways the government tries to educate people about the dangers of lung cancer and prevent the disease

  • Anti-smoking campaigns
  • Advertising campaigns highlighting symptoms
  • Banning advertisements for cigarettes
  • Raising the legal age of buying tobacco
  • Banning smoking in public places
• Treatments for lung cancer

  • Radiotherapy
  • Chemotherapy
  • Immunotherapy
  • Transplant
• Medical research into the causes, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of lung cancer continues today
• Further advances in scientific knowledge and technology will lead to improved understanding and more treatments for lung cancer