Why is Screening for Lung Cancer in a High-risk Population so Important?
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women. About 160,000 people in the United States will die of lung cancer each year. The five-year survival rate for lung cancers found at all stages is 15% meaning 15 of every 100 people diagnosed survive at least five years. On the other hand, if lung cancer is found and treated by surgery early, before it has spread to lymph nodes or other organs, the five-year survival rate increases dramatically as high as 70%. This means that 70 out of 100 of these patients will survive for at least five years. Unfortunately, few lung cancers are currently found at an early stage. In fact, only 15% of lung cancers are found in early stages before its spread. Low-dose computerized tomography (CT) may change this. In a large study done of 1000 smokers and former smokers low-dose CT found 27 tumors while conventional x-ray found only 7. Of the 27 tumors the CT scan identified, 23 (85%) were in the early stages. The x-rays only found fo
