About 219,000 new cases of lung cancer are diagnosed in Americans each year 鈥 but only 30% of them are caught early, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
鈥淏y the time lung cancer causes symptoms, it鈥檚 often too late to cure,鈥 says chief of thoracic surgery at RUSH MD Anderson Cancer Center, who notes that symptoms can include persistent cough, chest pain or coughing up blood. 鈥淪creening gives us a chance to find cancer early, when it鈥檚 still curable,鈥 Seder says. 鈥淚f we wait until symptoms show up, the cancer has usually spread.鈥
Understanding the risk
Smoking remains the biggest cause of lung cancer.
鈥淎bout 80% of people who develop lung cancer have a history of smoking,鈥 Seder says, but he emphasizes that people who don鈥檛 smoke aren鈥檛 immune either. 鈥淲e also see cases from radon exposure, secondhand smoke or genetic factors. Anyone with lungs can get lung cancer.鈥
The U.S. Preventive 海角原创 Task Force recommends screening with annual low-dose CT scans for adults age 50 to 80 who have a 20-pack-year smoking history and are still smoking or have quit within the last 15 years.
If the scan is clear, patients who still meet the screening criteria return in one year for another scan. If something looks suspicious, further imaging or a biopsy may follow.
鈥淢ost of what we find are small nodules that aren鈥檛 cancer,鈥 Seder says. 鈥淏ut if it is cancer, we can act early 鈥 and that鈥檚 where the success stories come from. With newer techniques and therapies, we can treat more people than ever before.鈥
Minimally invasive surgery means that many people with early-stage lung cancer are able to recover quickly.
鈥淲e use robotic and video-assisted techniques through tiny incisions,鈥 Seder explains. 鈥淭his means you can go home sooner, with less pain and fewer complications.鈥
Quitting still matters
鈥淚t鈥檚 never too late to quit smoking,鈥 Seder says. 鈥淵our risk starts to drop the day you stop.鈥 Although e-cigarettes are often perceived as safer, he warns, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 yet know their long-term effects, and they鈥檙e certainly not harmless.鈥
Early detection and prevention remain the best tools against lung cancer.
鈥淭he most powerful step you can take,鈥 Seder says, 鈥渋s to talk to your doctor about screening. It鈥檚 simple, it鈥檚 effective and it could save your life.鈥
