There’s a new weapon in the fight against lung cancer: a low-dose computed tomography (CT) scan. This quick, easy, painless screening can detect cancer earlier, increasing treatment options and boosting success rates. Even better, if you’re a high-risk candidate, a diagnostic low dose CT scan is likely covered by your insurance.
Lung cancer is the most deadly cancer, killing more people each year than breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer combined.[1] One reason for its nearly 90% fatality rate is that it is very difficult to detect lung cancer early; by the time patients show symptoms, the disease has already spread enough that chances for successful treatment are low.[2] If you can detect lung cancer in its earliest stages, however, you can dramatically improve the odds of successful treatment.[3]
A low-dose CT scan takes X-rays that are very, very detailed; they can show early-stage lung cancers that may be too small to be detected by a traditional X-ray. During the procedure, a camera continuously rotates in a spiral motion around a patient, taking several 3-dimensional, detailed X-rays of the lungs; these X-rays can reveal lung abnormalities the size of a grain of rice![4] Although many of these abnormalities will be completely harmless, finding them early can allow doctors to evaluate whether they may be cancerous and surgically remove them if appropriate. Removing isolated cancerous areas from the lungs before the disease spreads dramatically increases the survival rate for lung cancer. On average, the lung cancer five-year survival rate is 17.8%.[5] If the disease is discovered while it is still localized in the lungs, the five-year survival rate jumps to 54%; if it’s not caught before it spreads to other organs, however, the five-year survival rate drops to 4%.[6]
There are some risks to undergoing this kind of low-dose CT scan. As with any x-ray procedure, patients are exposed to some radiation during the scan. The low-dose chest CT used for lung cancer screening delivers a much lower dose of radiation than a conventional CT scan (between 1 and 4 millisievert versus about 5 to 20 millisievert); the lower amount is equivalent to about 15 chest x-rays, about 50 cross-country airplane flights or six months of natural, everyday background radiation.[7] Also, the scans reveal abnormalities in such fine detail that many of the “abnormal” findings are perfectly harmless, and this can lead to needless worry or additional unnecessary testing.[8]
To help avoid these risks, U.S. Prevention Task Force recommends screenings for only the highest-risk group: people ages 55-80 who have at least a 30-year pack history of smoking, who either still smoke or who have quit within the last 15 years.[9] (A pack year is defined as twenty cigarettes smoked every day for one year; a heavier smoker has to smoke for less time to achieve one “pack year,” and vice versa.) For this group of individuals, the ten-year risk of developing lung cancer is greater than one in 100, and any risks from undergoing the recommended diagnostic low-dose CT scans are likely outweighed by the increased chances of early lung cancer detection. In a recent study, the National Lung Screening Trial, lung cancer mortality decreased by 20 percent in a group of high-risk individuals who underwent three scans at one-year intervals.[10]
Great news is that the Affordable Care Act requires private insurance to pay for screenings recommended by the U.S. Prevention Task Force, so if you have private insurance and meet the high-risk criteria, a low-dose CT scan should be covered.[11] Medicare and Medicaid will also soon cover the procedure.[12] If you have questions about your insurance coverage, our billing office (515-226-2122) would be happy to talk with you about your options.
Along with quitting smoking immediately – which remains the single best way to reduce your cancer risk – a low dose CT scan can help you arm yourself in the fight against lung cancer. If you’re in the high-risk group or want to talk about your risk factors, call us today.
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[1] http://www.lung.org/lung-disease/lung-cancer/resources/facts-figures/lung-cancer-fact-sheet.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/RecommendationStatementFinal/lung-cancer-screening
[4] http://www.swedish.org/services/thoracic-surgery/thoracic-surgery-services/lung-cancer-screening-program/low-dose-ct-scan-for-lung-cancer-screening
[5] http://www.lung.org/lung-disease/lung-cancer/resources/facts-figures/lung-cancer-fact-sheet.html
[6] Ibid.
[7] http://www.swedish.org/services/thoracic-surgery/thoracic-surgery-services/lung-cancer-screening-program/low-dose-ct-scan-for-lung-cancer-screening
[8] http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/RecommendationStatementFinal/lung-cancer-screening
[9] Ibid.
[10] http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/detection/CT
[11] http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/rights/law/index.html
[12] http://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/details/nca-proposed-decision-memo.aspx?NCAId=274
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