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How do you counsel patients with newly diagnosed advanced cancer on smoking cessation?

Although responses to treatment are better with smoking cessation, I’ve found it difficult to have the conversation, especially with patients with metastatic disease who feel like there’s no point to quitting at that point.
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When a patient with advanced cancer says quitting smoking is pointless, how do you generally try to frame the conversation?

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3 Answers
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Radiation Oncology · Wellspan Sechler Family Cancer Center
Answered on

Unless the patient has a significant chance of living for more than a year or two, I can’t imagine that the difficulty of quitting smoking is really justified for that patient.

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Radiation Oncology · UCLA | VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
Answered on

Smoking addiction is a mental health problem requiring advanced medical services. Many of our patients with advanced cancer have already tried dozens of times to quit, and there's a reason they can't. They're either psychologically or physically addicted, or both, and pushing them too hard can under...

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Radiation Oncology · Michigan Healthcare Professionals, PC
Answered on

This is an issue that is dear to my heart. We have a few low-cost interventions that improve QoL and extend life for lung cancer (or for many health problems, for that matter), but smoking cessation is one of them.

There are many studies showing benefit, but here are two of note:

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