Lung Cancer Screening

If found early, lung cancer can be more easily treated

Lung cancer screening is for high-risk people. Those of high risk are people that are 50 to 80 years old and also have a 10 pack-year history. A ten pack-year history means you smoked a pack a day for ten years, or you smoked two packs a day for five years.

Other risk factors include environmental exposure to asbestos or radon and exposure to second hand smoke. Screening, in general, means looking for cancer cells before symptoms appear. With lung cancer, early detection may make it easier to treat.

There are several types of lung cancer screening tests

They include: chest x-rays; sputum cytology (looking for cancer cells in phlegm); and CT (computed tomography) scans of your lungs. There is statistical evidence that low dose CT scans find cancers earlier. But, there is little evidence that screening tests prevent people from dying from lung cancer.

As early as October 2006 in The New England Journal of Medicine researchers who studied 31,000 patients reported that over 80% of the people who had lung cancer detected by CT scans could be cured.

When the lung cancer is found early, the cure rate rises to 92%.

Otherwise, without screening by CT scan, over 95% of the people with lung cancer die from the disease.

In March 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association researchers reported the analysis of 3,246 current or former smokers. A lung cancer screening test with low dose CT scans may increase the rate of lung cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Low dose CT scans detect pulmonary nodules that may or may not be cancerous. You do not need a prescription for a screening test. But, most insurance companies do not cover the cost of the screening test. The cost is between $250 and $500. Some hospitals provide free CT scans if you participate in a funded research project.

In June 2008 researchers at Harvard University and the Mayo Clinic analyzed CT scans from 1,520 current and former smokers. The lung cancer screening helped reduce lung cancer deaths in this group. The relative reduction in lung cancer mortality was 28%.

In May 2009 in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology Dr. Asamura at the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo, Japan reported that classification by the technique used to diagnose the lung cancer impacted the survival rate. Those people who were diagnosed using CT scans had a 91.2% 5-year survival rate. The people who were diagnosed with x-rays only showed a 77.8% 5-year survival rate.

The best hope for a cure for lung cancer is early detection

The CT scan can detect tiny spots on the lung called nodules. The CT scan is a painless, non-invasive procedure that takes 20 seconds.

A radiologist analyzes the scan and reports to your physician. Lung cancer has no symptoms in the early stages. Most (85%) of all people who are diagnosed with lung cancer are in a late stage, which is usually inoperable.

After symptoms appear, there is very little chance of a cure. About 95% of the 173,000 people with lung cancer die from the disease each year. Lung cancer screening is important for the African American community because they are at a much higher risk for developing lung cancer.

Finally, there is the Early Lung Cancer Action Program launched in 1992 by doctors at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. I-ELCAP is an international collaborative group of experts from 48 institutions in nine countries. In October 2009 China will host the 21st International Conference on Screening for Lung Cancer.

Written by Margaret Stenerson-Reynolds
07-05-09
Reviewed by Susan McCracken
07-13-09