Remembering Don Knotts
- Beloved actor Don Knotts was known for his work on The Andy Griffith Show and passed from lung cancer in 2006 at 81; this is his birthday week.
- Lung cancer treatment options can include chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy.
- Current and former smokers should screen for this disease.
From there, he traveled to New York City, where he’d begin making a name for himself after a few stops and starts. Knotts is the definition of persistence; after failing to make it in showbiz, initially, he joined the U.S. Army and found his way back to his passion performing and continued building his career, which would go on to reach great heights.
Don’s Cancer Fight
Knotts passed away from lung cancer complications on February 24, 2006 at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, where he’d been receiving treatment for his disease. Amid battling cancer, Knotts contracted pneumonia.
Knotts kept his lung cancer battle relatively private, so not much is known about the staging of his cancer at the time of his diagnosis, nor about his treatment path. However, we do know that treatment options for lung cancer will depend on the stage and clinical characteristics of the cancer. Treatment options can include chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy.
Related: What Late-Stage Lung Cancer Patients Should Know About Immunotherapy During Coronavirus
In an earlier interview, Dr. Edward Garon, a medical oncology and hematology specialist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, tells SurvivorNet the first steps for someone newly diagnosed with lung cancer. He says, “First, get appropriate radiographic studies to evaluate what the extent of the disease is. Because, based on that, some patients are potentially candidates for local treatment such as surgery, whereas other patients will have a disease that has spread outside the chest and will need to look for systemic therapy."
You've Just Found Out You Have Lung Cancer: Your Next Steps Are Important
Screening for Lung Cancer
If you've been a smoker in the past, or are currently a smoker, it's a good idea to get screened for lung cancer. Getting a CT scan of the chest area to screen for cancer can be beneficial, and allow doctors to catch lung cancer earlier.
Dr. Patrick Forde, a thoracic oncologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, says in a previous interview, "Over the last few years, there's been a number of studies looking at using low dose CT scans of the chest in patients who have a history of smoking to try and pick up lung cancers in earlier stage. About 70% to 80% of patients who are diagnosed with lung cancer, unfortunately, the cancer has spread outside of the lung and is not suitable for surgery."
Dr. Forde points to studies that have already been done on these types of scans, which can provide greater insight. "And there have been a number of studies, most recently, one in the Netherlands, which looked at doing CT scans for patients who are over the age of 55 and had a significant smoking history for many years and then monitoring them on a regular basis with a low dose CT of the chest. And they were able to show a reduction in the numbers of lung cancers which had spread outside of the chest."
"They were able to pick them up in earlier stage and potentially cure them at a higher rate than not doing screening. So that approach was recommended here in the US now. The uptake has not been high, both in diverse communities and others as well. And I think it behooves us all to try and increase the uptake of CT, in particular, given that it's been shown to reduce lung cancer mortality,” he says.
Former & Current Heavy Smokers Should Get Lung Cancer Screenings Using CT Scan, Says Leading Expert
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