The Importance of Lung Cancer Screenings
- The rate of new lung cancer cases in Kentucky is 84.8 per 100,000 people, significantly higher than the national rate of 54.6.
- This is largely do to levels of obesity, prevalence o smoking, and the lack of screening
- With lung cancer, early detection is essential. The sooner doctors catch this cancer, the more likely that treatment will be successful. Early-stage lung cancers that are removed with surgery may even be curable. But all too often, lung cancer isn’t detected until it has already spread, and it’s more difficult to treat.
- While smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, non-smokers are not safe, as secondhand smoke and other environmental factors can also put millions at risk.
- Talk to your doctor about getting a low-dose CT scan (LDCT) or chest x-ray if you are at high risk or if you experience a cough that doesn’t go away, a cough that produces bloody mucus, or if you experience chest pain or trouble swallowing or breathing. SurvivorNet’s lung cancer guide is here to help.
For the last decade, the Bluegrass State’s researchers have focused on making a difference with screening, as CBS News noted from ALA’s analysis, currently screening more people at high risk for developing lung cancer than any other state aside from Massachusetts. 10.6 % of eligible Kentucky residents were screened in 2022, which is more than double the 4.5% national rate.
Read MoreRELATED: Lung Cancer Screening Has Come a Long Way, But Only 10% of Eligible People Take Advantage
The percentage of lung cancer cases statewide that had spread to the lymph nodes were around 81% from 2000-2014, Kentucky Cancer Data Registry shared. Fortunately, by 2020 the number had decreased to 72%, an improvement, but still a long way to go.
“We are changing the story of families. And there is hope where there has not been hope before,” LEADS principal investigator Jennifer Knight told CBS.
“What the Kentucky LEADS program is doing is fantastic,” says lung cancer physician from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, expressing that what they’re doing is “how you really move the needle in implementing lung cancer screening on a larger scale,” so hopefully more states will follow suit to help tackle this challenging health crisis.
The state of Kentucky also expanded Medicaid in 2014 to increase the number of lower-income people who qualified for these crucial screenings.
CT Scans Save Lives
Currently, according to the latest guidelines published in the American Cancer Society‘s flagship journal, the ACS recommends that “primary care or specialty care providers refer 50 to 80-year-olds for yearly screening with LDCT (low-dose CT scan) if they currently smoke or used to smoke, have a 20-pack-year or more smoking history, without any symptoms of lung cancer.”
With lung cancer, early detection is essential. The sooner doctors catch this cancer, the more likely that treatment will be successful. Early-stage lung cancers that are removed with surgery may even be curable. But all too often, lung cancer isn’t detected until it has already spread, as reflected in Kentucky’s high numbers, and it’s more difficult to treat.
“In about 70 to 80% of patients who are diagnosed with lung cancer, unfortunately the cancer has spread outside of the lung and is not suitable for surgery,” Dr. Patrick Forde, thoracic oncologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, tells SurvivorNet, of lung cancer patients as a whole.
Former & Current Heavy Smokers Should Get Lung Cancer Screenings Using CT Scan, Says Leading Expert
A study published in the February 2020 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine found that former and current longtime smokers ages 50 to 74 who had low-dose CT scans were less likely to die from lung cancer (24% lower risk in men and 33% lower risk in women) than those who didn’t have this test.
“[The CT scans] were able to pick [up the cancer] at an earlier stage and potentially cure them at a higher rate than not doing screening,” Dr. Forde says.
Lung Cancer Does Not Only Affect Smokers
Even though lung cancer is most commonly seen in smokers, there are a handful of other environmental factors that can cause the disease. The leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers is exposure to radon gas, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It accounts for about 21,000 deaths from lung cancer each year. But because radon can’t be seen or smelled, the only way to know whether it’s accumulating in your home is to test for it.
Another big cause of lung cancer in non-smokers is simply breathing in secondhand smoke. That amounts to around 7,000 deaths from lung cancer each year. Exposure to other harmful chemicals like asbestos may also cause lung cancer. Asbestos was commonly used for insulation, roofing, and in various paints and plastics before it was banned by the EPA in 1989.
Lung cancer in smokers vs. non-smokers
You may also be at a higher risk of developing lung cancer if you are constantly exposed to air pollution, or if you have a family history of lung cancer. New research also suggests that people infected with HIV have a higher risk of developing lung cancer compared to the general population. HIV weakens the immune system and reduces the body’s ability to fight off other viral infections that may cause various cancers.
Many lung cancers are found accidentally, and they usually affect people above the age of 65. A small number of people are diagnosed younger than 45 years old. Talk to your doctor about getting a low-dose CT scan (LDCT) or chest x-ray if you are at high risk or if you experience a cough that doesn’t go away, a cough that produces bloody mucus, or if you experience chest pain or trouble swallowing or breathing.
It’s Never Too Late to Stop Smoking
Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. The tobacco in cigarettes is a carcinogen that causes mutations in lung cells and enables the growth of cancer. In fact, about 80% of lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking, according to the American Cancer Society.
It’s also important to know that several thousand other lung cancer deaths are caused by exposure to secondhand smoke. The good news is that if you quit smoking, your risk for lung cancer decreases.
Take it from a guy who looks at diseased lungs every day: ‘Stop smoking’
“If you’re smoking, don’t smoke,” says Dr. Joseph Friedberg, Head of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “You never return down all the way to the [level of] the person who never smoked as far as your risk of lung cancer goes, but it goes down with time.”
“I think it behooves us all to try and increase the uptake of CT screening in particular, given that it’s been shown to reduce lung cancer mortality,” Dr. Forde adds.
If you are a longtime smoker between the ages of 55 and 80, ask your primary care doctor if you qualify for low-dose CT screening, and how to get this test.
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