Treatment Trivia
This therapy uses drugs to kill fast-growing cancer cells and is one of the oldest treatments.
What is chemotherapy?
This smoky exposure isn’t from your own cigarette—but from someone else’s.
What is secondhand smoke?
This common respiratory infection often hides early lung cancer when a mass causes inflammation.
What is pneumonia?
Doctors listen to your breathing using this tool.
What is a stethoscope?
In the 2014 film The Fault in Our Stars, Isaac’s mother is treated for this type of cancer, one of the central “offscreen” illnesses in the story.
What is lung cancer?
This newer treatment “unlocks” the immune system so it can attack the cancer.
What is immunotherapy?
This everyday hazard from traffic and industrial zones is now considered a cancer-causing agent by the WHO.
What is air pollution?
Many patients think their new cough is from allergies—but this unrelated seasonal issue is the real imposter.
What is hay fever?
This basic imaging test can show large masses or lung problems but can miss early cancer.
What is a chest X-ray?
This hit medical TV show often features lung cancer cases as part of its episodes.
What is Grey's Anatomy?
Targeted therapies often come in this convenient form instead of IV.
What are pills? or What is oral medication?
Burning this common indoor item (often scented) contributes to harmful particulate matter.
What are Candles / Incense?
Back or shoulder pain from lung cancer can trick patients into thinking they have this skeletal or muscular irritation.
What is a pulled muscle?
This scan is the recommended screening test for people at high risk for lung cancer because it shows tiny details.
What is a low-dose CT scan?
In Breaking Bad, this character receives a lung cancer diagnosis in the first episode.
Who is Walter White?
This treatment uses high-energy beams and can be so precise it's sometimes called “cyberknife.”
What is stereotactic radiation (SBRT/SRS)?
This odorless, colorless home gas is the #1 cause of lung cancer in never-smokers.
What is Radon?
Weight loss and fatigue often get mistaken for this “modern life” culprit, even when cancer is the cause.
What is stress?
To confirm if a suspicious spot is cancer, doctors may take a small tissue sample called this.
What is a biopsy?
This 1970s film starring Jack Nicholson features a plot in which a family grapples with their father’s terminal lung cancer diagnosis.
What is “Five Easy Pieces”?
When cancer evolves to resist treatment, doctors may order this genetic test again to find new mutations.
What is repeat molecular profiling?
This type of radioactive dust, released in certain mining areas, historically caused spikes in lung cancer rates among workers.
What is uranium dust?
Hoarseness may come from cancer pressing on this nerve, often misdiagnosed as simple laryngitis.
What is the recurrent laryngeal nerve?
Finding lung cancer before symptoms appear — usually through screening — helps catch it earlier. This is called what?
What is early detection? (or screening detection)
In this emotional 1999 film starring Michael Keaton, a father diagnosed with terminal lung cancer videotapes life lessons for his unborn son.
What is “My Life”?