Post

It’s World Lung Cancer Day 2026. It’s also exactly 7 years since I had surgery to remove a metastatic tumour from my brain caused by my own lung cancer. I got this rather fetching scar! 1/n

Duncan Edmonstone

@edmonstone.net

In the 7 years since my diagnosis we’ve come a long way. There is a screening program for lung cancer in England and plans under way for equivalents in the devolved nations. There’s a huge number of new treatments available for lung cancer sub-types we could hardly even detect 7 years ago. 2/n

1/8/26, 7:11 am0 reposts3 likes

Duncan Edmonstone

@edmonstone.net

1 Aug

Advances in biopsies and analysis of fragments of tumour DNA allow us to get to accurate diagnoses faster. The NHS has also done a huge amount of work operationally to shorten the diagnostic pathway despite massive pressure on resources. 3/n

Duncan Edmonstone

@edmonstone.net

1 Aug

The median survival time for stage 4 patients has finally got past the 1 year mark, and many patients like myself do a whole lot better. 4/n

Duncan Edmonstone

@edmonstone.net

1 Aug

But there’s still plenty to be done. We have to get better at early diagnosis - too many patients, especially non-smoking lung cancer patients are diagnosed too late at stage 4 where we can’t currently attempt curative treatment. 5/n

Duncan Edmonstone

@edmonstone.net

1 Aug

Too many primary care clinicians continue to wave away symptoms that should really cause them to “think cancer”. And there are too many types of lung cancer where we don’t have targeted/personalised treatments available. 6/n