[Photo/Xinhua]

The most important measure for a lasting reduction in the mortality rate of lung cancer still lies in smoking prevention, Austrian experts said Monday.

In a press release in light of World Cancer Day on Thursday, experts from the Austrian Society of Pneumology (OeGP) said lung cancer is the second-most common form of cancer among Austrian men and the third-most common in women, and the greatest cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.

Unlike other cancer varieties that respond more favourably to modern treatments such as chemotherapy and personalized therapies and are also expected to be better-treatable via the present development of immunotherapy treatments, no particularly improved outcomes are expected for the treatment of advanced forms of lung cancer in the near future.

"The big problem with lung cancer is still that 50 percent of the cancers are diagnosed once they are already in an incurable state," the OeGP said.