Dr. Kohman Discusses Importance of Lung Cancer Screening

Leslie J. Kohman, MD, FACS, Distinguished Service Professor of Surgery, Upstate University Hospital, Upstate Cancer Center, discusses the importance of lung cancer screening.

Lung cancer is the only tumor type in which a screening test has been shown to reduce all-cause mortality and disease-specific mortality, Kohman says. Even in comparison with colonoscopy and mammography, lung cancer screening is the only modality that has been shown to reduce the chances of dying overall. This represents a major advancement in the field, says Kohman.

Screening is done via imaging with a low-dose CT scan to the chest. This should be done in high-risk individuals every year. High-risk patients are those who are between the ages of 55 and 79 and have at least a 30-year pack history of smoking, Kohman notes. If they have quit smoking, it should have been within the last 15 years.

According to data from the National Lung Screening Trial, lung cancer screening reduced the risk of dying overall. Moreover, 80% of patients who were discovered to have lung cancer through the screening were cured.