Lung Cancer Screening

By Dr. Charity Robinson

Second only to skin cancer, lung cancer is the most common diagnosed cancer in the United States. Lung cancer causes more deaths than prostate, breast, and colon cancers combined each year, and is responsible for roughly 1 in 4 or 25% of all cancer deaths.
Screening for lung cancer is one of the most effective ways to detect lung cancer at the earliest stages when it is most treatable and even curable. Unfortunately, far too few people have been properly screened for lung cancer, which is causing thousands of preventable deaths every year. At Clearwater Valley Health, we can successfully screen for lung cancer with annual low-dose chest CT scans in adults aged 50-80 years old who qualify for screening. Screening should only be done in patients who have no history of lung cancer and who have no symptoms of the disease. We want to screen for lung cancer before symptoms develop because most lung cancers are advanced and difficult to treat once they become symptomatic. To qualify for lung cancer screening you must be a current or previous smoker who has quit less than 15 years prior to screening. A smoker must also have a 20-pack-year history or more of smoking. This means that a patient has to smoke at least one pack of cigarettes per day for at least 20 years. For someone who only smoked one half pack per day they would require 40 years of smoking to qualify. For those who smoked 2 packs per day they would only need to smoke for 10 years to qualify. Patients should also be well enough to undergo further testing such as lung biopsy or treatments, which may include lung surgery, radiation treatments, and/or chemotherapy.
If you qualify for lung cancer screening, please contact your provider to discuss entering a screening program and to discuss what to expect from the screening process and results.