About 219,000 new cases of lung cancer are diagnosed in Americans each year — but only 30% of them are caught early, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“By the time lung cancer causes symptoms, it’s often too late to cure,” says Christopher Seder, MD, chief of thoracic surgery at RUSH MD Anderson Cancer Center, who notes that symptoms can include persistent cough, chest pain or coughing up blood. “Screening gives us a chance to find cancer early, when it’s still curable,” Seder says. “If we wait until symptoms show up, the cancer has usually spread.”
Understanding the risk
Smoking remains the biggest cause of lung cancer.
“About 80% of people who develop lung cancer have a history of smoking,” Seder says, but he emphasizes that people who don’t smoke aren’t immune either. “We also see cases from radon exposure, secondhand smoke or genetic factors. Anyone with lungs can get lung cancer.”
The U.S. Preventive Services 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.
“Most of what we find are small nodules that aren’t cancer,” Seder says. “But if it is cancer, we can act early — and that’s where the success stories come from. With newer techniques and therapies, we can treat more people than ever before.”
Minimally invasive surgery means that many people with early-stage lung cancer are able to recover quickly.
“We use robotic and video-assisted techniques through tiny incisions,” Seder explains. “This means you can go home sooner, with less pain and fewer complications.”
Quitting still matters
“It’s never too late to quit smoking,” Seder says. “Your risk starts to drop the day you stop.” Although e-cigarettes are often perceived as safer, he warns, “We don’t yet know their long-term effects, and they’re certainly not harmless.”
Early detection and prevention remain the best tools against lung cancer.
“The most powerful step you can take,” Seder says, “is to talk to your doctor about screening. It’s simple, it’s effective and it could save your life.”
