Screening saves lives

This letter has been edited to correctly identify the author..

Lung cancer is the nation's leading cause of cancer deaths for both men and women, accounting for about one in every four cancer deaths in the United States. Perhaps the top reason that lung cancer is so lethal is that it is most often diagnosed in later stages, after the disease has spread.

But this is changing, as lung cancer screening for individuals considered to be high risk can dramatically improve survival rates by finding the disease when it is more likely to be curable. A low dose chest CT scan (LDCT) also called lung cancer screening is a simple, quick, non-invasive test covered by Medicare and most private insurance plans without a co-pay. According to the American Lung Association, lung cancer screening can decrease lung cancer mortality by 20 percent among high-risk populations. If just half of that group were screened, over 12,000 lung cancer deaths could be prevented every year. Visit SavedByTheScan.org and take the lung cancer screening eligibility quiz. As the lung cancer screening program coordinator at Rush University Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital, every day I see patients whose lives were saved by lung cancer screening. Each of them is a daily happy reminder that lung cancer screening can truly save lives - made even more personal knowing that these screenings were not available in 2004 when my mother's lung cancer was detected after it was no longer curable. Had this exam been available, she might be among the estimated 25,000 lives potentially saved from lung cancer screening.

Linda Dowling, RN, Lung Cancer Screening Coordinator

Rush Oak Park Hospital