5 Ways to Spot and Stop Smoking-Related Cancers

At 70 years old, Lydia Whitlow likes to stay active. “I like to work in the yard. It feels good to turn the soil and watch my garden grow,” she says.

Enjoying a sun-filled day in south Houston seemed nearly impossible a few years before, given the circumstances.

Fifteen years ago, her dentist discovered oral cancer during a routine exam. After aggressive surgery, Whitlow, a smoker for nearly 50 years, was relieved to find out she was in remission.

In 2006, she received the grim news she would be fighting cancer for a second round. This time it would be one of the deadliest forms of the disease. An ache in her back led to the diagnosis of “small cell” lung cancer, usually caused from smoking. Small cell is aggressive. Once diagnosed, most patients with metastatic small cell cancer have a poor survival rate.

Other physicians she consulted told her the inoperable cancer in her lungs was resisting traditional therapies. She was out of options, they said.

Whitlow, however, isn’t “most patients,” thanks to lifesaving research at the Center for Thermal Therapy Cancer Treatment at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. That’s where Joan Bull, MD, professor of oncology, told Whitlow there was hope.

For six months, Whitlow climbed into a heavy-duty sleeping bag and warmed by heat lamps. She was then warmed to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, equivalent to a high fever. Preliminary research has shown that heat increases the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs in fighting tumors. The heat jumpstarts the immune system just like a normal fever does when we are sick, says Bull. “Evidence shows that the combination of chemotherapy, immune-modulating drugs and thermal therapy helps weaken the cancer and, in Whitlow’s case, kills it altogether. In other cases, it can help reduce a tumor to an operable size,” she explains.

Bull is now in Phase 2 of her clinical trials. Her research on thermal therapy is published in the Dec. 2008 issue of the International Journal of Hyperthermia.

Whitlow received thermal therapy treatments once a month. She was lightly sedated during each six-hour treatment session and warmed up by an infrared radiant heat device. “I would be really tired at the end of those sessions. You feel a little weak, but otherwise OK,” she says.

Bull says Whitlow responded to the treatment beautifully. She is now disease free.

Bull can treat patients with small-cell lung, non-small-cell, neuroendocrine and pancreatic cancers. She also works with patients who have breast, endometrial and cervical cancers.

Dentists, like Whitlow’s, serve an important role in the fight against smoking-related cancers. Last year, the American Dental Association (ADA) launched a three-year nationwide public service campaign to boost public awareness of oral cancer and showcase a dentist’s role in helping spot the disease early.