DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My husband, 53, has just gotten the word that he has lung cancer. He stopped smoking about 10 years ago. Why didn’t that keep him from coming down with cancer? We are asking you to give us some idea of his chances of surviving this, and we would like to know what’s considered the best treatment for it. If he had had a lung X-ray a year ago, would his chances for living be better? – K.W.

ANSWER: There are four distinct kinds of lung cancer, and what I’m going to say cannot be taken as being equally applicable to all four types.

Ninety percent of lung cancer can be traced to cigarette smoking. Stopping cigarettes lessens the chance of coming down with lung cancer, but it doesn’t completely eliminate it. Much depends on a person’s age at the time of quitting, the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the total length of time the person smoked.

I doubt if having had a chest X-ray a year ago would have made any difference in your husband’s case. X-rays are poor at detecting small cancers. A special kind of CT scan – a spiral CT scan – picks up small cancers more readily, but there have been no guidelines about using this kind of scan as a screening test for lung cancer.

Predictions about life span and the choice of treatment for lung cancer are based on the type of lung cancer, its size and whether it has spread to other organs or lymph nodes. A small lung cancer that’s confined to the lungs can be treated and produce a five-year survival rate of 60 percent. Larger cancers that have spread to distant sites, like bone, have a greater reduction in predicted survival. Treatment can be surgery, radiation or chemotherapy, or a combination of those methods. Treatment depends on size, spread and type of tumor.

Even today, when the number of smokers is fewer than it was only a few decades ago, lung cancer still ranks as the second-most common kind of cancer. In men, it follows prostate cancer. In women, it follows breast cancer.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My mother-in-law has an unused bedroom where she stores old clothes. The room reeks of mothballs. My kids are quite active and get into everything you don’t want them to get into. When we visit their grandmother, they invariably make a beeline for that room, and they stay in it for an hour or so. I haven’t said anything, but I wonder if there is a health hazard from mothball fumes. – C.N.

ANSWER: The warning label on mothballs says to avoid prolonged breathing of vapors. The definition of “prolonged” isn’t given. If the concentration of mothball fumes is so great in that room, I wouldn’t let the children play in it. I don’t think they would be harmed by an hour of play, but I would rather make an error on the side of safety.

Mothballs contain either naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene. Both substances have, in very large concentrations for long periods of time, caused damage in laboratory animals.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: What do you think about using corn removers for a bunion? I have had corns in the past and the removers worked well for me. Now I have a bunion and got the idea about using the corn remover. – M.A.

ANSWER: Scrap the idea. Bunions are a bone and a bursa problem. Corns are a skin problem. By putting corn medicine on a bunion, all you’ll do is irritate already irritated skin.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Can you give me information on a hemangioma of the liver? What are its risks and dangers? Is there a chance it will become a cancer or form blood clots? – E.Y.

ANSWER: Since the advent of CT scans, MRI scans and ultrasound pictures, we have come to learn that small liver hemangiomas are common. They are balls of blood vessels. They don’t become cancerous, and they don’t form clots.

Such hemangiomas are best left alone. Only if they grow large should they be removed. That is a most unlikely prospect.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am a 75-year-old lady. I had my gallbladder removed over a month ago. How long will it take for me to become normal again? – P.O.

ANSWER: It’s impossible to be dogmatic about the recovery time from surgery. It varies from person to person. Most feel pretty good by six weeks. They can take care of most of their needs by then, and they are active enough to get around.

However, surgery is a very traumatic event. It’s almost like getting hit by a car. It can take months and months before people feel like their old self again.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Can you get ringworm from eating too much candy? Is there any relationship between not keeping the body clean and ringworm? I have been told that both can cause it. – Z.C.

ANSWER: Neither causes it.

Ringworm is a fungal infection. The infection can spring up on the head, the body, the hands or the feet (athlete’s foot).

The fungus is picked up from someone else or from inanimate objects like the floor of a shower room.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com