Lung Cancer Insight
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Detecting lung cancer early will make lung cancer more easily treated.
Detecting lung cancer early is vital for those at high-risk of developing lung cancer. These are typically people between 50 and 80 years old who have a 10 pack-year history. A ten pack-year history means that you have smoked a pack a day for ten years or 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 really makes treatment work better.
There are several types of lung cancer screening tests
They include:
Statistics show that low dose CT scans find cancers earlier. But so far, there is little evidence that screening tests prevent people from dying from lung cancer. That may be because good screening tests are still recent inventions.
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 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 chances 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 it's cost. 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 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 screening had a positive impact on 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 had only a 77.8% 5-year survival rate.
"Research shows that annual CT scans can find 85% of lung cancers".
Research shows that annual CT scans can find 85% of lung cancers. 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. Detecting lung cancer makes all the difference when it comes to treatment.
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.
Once symptoms appear, there is very little chance of curing the disease. About 95% of the 173,000 people with lung cancer die from the disease every 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.
"This website is for all lung cancer patients, their families and friends. I want people to know that they can overcome this disease by learning what to do, where to go for great medical help, how to deal with insurance and all the other problems facing them.
I have worked with some great people to make this web site easy to understand and devoted to helping you. Please let me know if anything doesn't help you or if we can do something more that would be useful to you.
The most important factor in a person getting healthy is their personal determination and their will to be better. You have to summon that determination and then take the steps described here - we are here to help and support you."
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