Lung cancer is the Grim Reaper’s best friend, killing more individuals within the United States than any other cancer. Choosing never to smoke, or choosing to quit smoking is the obvious strategy to stay away from dying from cancer of the lung. Smokers who cannot quit have a better chance of surviving lung cancer if they are screened with a CT scan, as opposed to a chest x-ray.
Lung cancer deaths lowered 20 percent with CT scans
The National Cancer Institute reports that those who are smokers and previous smokers should get a CT scan once a year. This will reduce the number of deaths by 20 percent that come from lung cancer. Middle aged or older smokers or ex-smokers who had smoked a pack a day for at least 30 years were tracked. 53,000 people were watched. Those with a regular chest x-ray were compared to those who had annual low-dose helical computed tomography or CTs. The difference in mortality had been so profound, the NCI ended the study early to inform the public and the people being studied of its findings.
CT scan lung cancer screening
There are some obstacles CT scans for lung cancer have to overcome. The study failed to mention these. CT scans for lung cancer can get quite pricey. Medical insurance companies don't usually cover this including Medicare. A chest CT scan costs $1,800 as an average according to newchoicehealth.com. Most plans do cover the standard chest x-ray for lung cancer which only costs an average of $370 anyway. There is also radiation. About 15 times more radiation is put into a patient with a low-dose CT scan than with a chest x-ray. Sometimes, suspicious anomalies that aren't really tumors are found by the CT scan too.
CT scan screening can help stop death by lung cancer
80 million within the U.S. are smokers. Currently, 85 percent of patients with lung cancer die because it is diagnosed too late. After 50 years of smoking, 67-year-old Steffani Torrighelli knew that lung cancer had been a risk, CBS News reports. Two years ago she enrolled in the study. At her first annual CT scan for lung cancer screening, an early stage tumor had been detected before any lung cancer symptoms emerged. CT scans are now the only way Torrighelli will do her lung cancer screenings. This is because she’s been cancer free for two years after having the tumor removed.
Details from
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/04/AR2010110407687_2.html
CBS News
cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/04/eveningnews/main7023357.shtml
New Choice Health
newchoicehealth.com/Directory/Procedure/8/Chest%20CT%20Scan
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