Lung cancer is said to be the deadliest form of cancer in the United States. It takes toll to 157,300 people every year, which is significantly more than colon cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer combined together.

However, there have not been enough funds for lung cancer research. It has not attracted many researches that would spend dollars to cut the death rate. Doctors have not yet found the best and most effective method to screen lung cancer. The sad part is that new treatments are being developed slowly.

The little attention may be because most people are perceived to have done this to themselves, thus little public sympathy is given. This was according to Kay Cofrancesco, the director of advocacy relations for the Lung Cancer Alliance, a national nonprofit group focused to support lung cancer.

There are more than 90 percent men and 80 percent women who die because of lung cancer. They are current or former smokers, as NIH reported.

The good thing is that clinical trials have been conducted on potential tools to screen lung cancer. Now, researchers were developing therapies for lung cancer patients. However, more can surely be done to keep death rates of lung cancer low.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society said that lung cancer has a tendency to spread throughout the body and by the time the symptoms are seen, the cancer has already spread. Cofrancesco said that smoking is often connected to lung cancer and that most money is spent in preventions that would promote smoking cessation.

The best thing is to combine improved lung cancer detection and continue with the emphasis on help people quit smoking, Lichtenfeld said.