The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has just released a new recommendation for CT (computed tomography) screening for lung cancer.
The guidelines now extend to those people with a smoking history of 30 pack years (calculated by multiplying the average number of cigarettes smoked per day by the number of years a person smoked) who are between the ages of 55 to 80 who quit smoking less than 15 years ago.
“This is significant news because it means that more lives will be saved,” said Dr. James Bauman, director of the lung cancer screening program at Norwalk Hospital.
Norwalk Hospital has been providing free lung cancer screenings for people who are at risk since October 2013. “In these difficult economic times, we do not want cost to be a barrier and we want to help people readily access the screenings,” Dr. Bauman said.
In early 2012, Norwalk Hospital became the first hospital in Connecticut to launch a low-dose CT lung cancer screening program to identify lung cancer in its earliest stages. The program was based on the findings of the National Lung Screening Trial sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. Since then, many people have accessed this program.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men and in women. According to the American Cancer Society, each year more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. The cancer society also estimates that there will be 159,480 deaths from lung cancer (87,260 in men and 72,220 among women) in 2013.
Studies have shown that treatment for lung cancer is more effective and the likelihood of death decreases significantly if it is detected early through screening.
However, until recently, there has not been an effective tool for diagnosing early-stage lung cancer.
The screening trial, a multi-year research study of more than 53,000 people conducted at 33 trial sites nationwide, showed a 20% reduction in lung cancer deaths among those who were screened by CT versus those who had standard chest X-rays.
Norwalk Hospital’s free lung screening program has a three-part benefit, Dr. Bauman said. In addition to the “low-dose” non-contrast CT — which produces a three-dimensional image of the lungs for early detection of lung cancer, a coronary calcium score is calculated from the information available from this study.
“This can improve risk assessment for heart disease when added to traditional risk factors,” Dr. Bauman said.
A smoking cessation program is also offered by Norwalk Hospital to active smokers who enroll in this screening program.
Patients and referring physicians are notified of the test results and a lung health navigator assists patients who have positive findings with any follow-up that is needed.
For more information about this free program, please call 203-838-4886.