Many people don’t know they have lung cancer until it’s too late. November is Lung Cancer Awareness month, and doctors at Beacon Health System say now is the time to be proactive. In this Eye on Health report, WSBT22’s Leanne Tokars tells us how lung cancer screenings are saving lives.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths nationwide, but doctors say – if you catch it early – it can be cured.
At Beacon Health System, lung cancer screenings are allowing doctors like Dr. Diego Heredia to detect lung cancer before symptoms appear. He says, “There’s a misconception that I see commonly with my patients that they say, ‘I smoke so what’s the point of getting screened for lung cancer? If I get screened and I have lung cancer, there’s no treatment options anyway,’ and that’s a myth. The whole point of lung cancer screening is to detect lung cancer early when you can cure it.”
It’s that early detection Dr. Heredia says is key. “Part of the challenge is that lung cancers – they can grow slowly in your lungs without causing any symptoms. You don’t know you have it, nobody knows, and it grows until it’s in an advanced stage. And then it’s going to cause shortness of breath, wheezing, chest pain, and usually when symptoms appear it’s already late,” explains Dr. Heredia.
A lung cancer screening is a low dose CT scan. It is specifically for adults 50 and older with a long-term smoking history – a pack a day for 20 years or more. While other risk factors may exist, the proven benefits of screening are currently limited to this group.
Doctors and other health professionals at Beacon Health use the screening to look for spots in your lungs or nodules that could indicate cancer.
Dr. Omer Toor with Beacon Medical Group Hematology Oncology says, “This is a unique concept in northern Indiana. We are the only program to establish the most integrated and highly skilled team which comes together on a weekly basis and discusses these abnormal scans and decide the next best step.”
Dr. Toor says whether that next step is surgery, immunotherapy, radiation or some other treatment, the team approach is making a difference. He says, “We see in the practice – when we do a low dose lung CT Scan on the high risk population – we diagnose cancer early. We save a life. We save a family. We save a community.”
The doctors tell WSBT22’s Leanne Tokars that damage from smoking can be irreversible. So, if you’ve ever smoked and are older than 50, it’s important you talk to your doctor to find out if you should have a lung cancer screening. Remember, it’s best to detect lung cancer before you have symptoms.
You can find more information on lung cancer screenings here.
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