A Madison lung cancer expert will be featured on a nationaltelevision health show Thursday.
Regina Vidaver, executive director of the National Lung CancerPartnership, based in Madison, was in New York City last month fora taping of “The Dr. Oz Show,” which airs weekdays from 2 to 3 p.m.on WISC-TV (Ch. 3).
Vidaver discussed how anybody can get lung cancer, whetherthey’ve smoked or not.
“One of the messages was that lung cancer can occur in anyone,”she said. “The highest risk obviously are people with a significantsmoking history, but people who have already quit smoking remain atrisk for 20 years or more.”
Her segment was about 10 to 15 minutes and she was on with Dr.Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society,and two survivors, Vidaver said.
Lung cancer is the no. 1 cause of cancer deaths in the UnitedStates, killing more people than breast, prostate and colon cancercombined, with cigarette smoking causing 87 percent of lung cancerdeaths, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Vidaver, who has a Ph.D. in molecular biology from theUW-Madison, was asked about some of the other causes of lung cancerbesides smoking, and talked about secondhand smoke and radonexposure. “And that a genetic predisposition is also unfortunatelyone of the bigger risk factors,” she said.
“We also talked about the different symptoms, particularly acough that won’t go away, if you cough up blood and unexplainedpain in the chest or shoulders,” Vidaver said.
Vidaver has been the group’s executive director since 2004.