Each year, lung cancer takes more lives than breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined.
One reason why lung cancer is so life-threatening is because it is so hard to detect. “Lung cancer doesn’t cause symptoms until its late stages,” says White Plains Hospital Director of the Women’s Cancer Program Services and thoracic surgeon Cynthia Chin, MD. To help detect lung cancer in the early treatable stages, Chin, along with White Plains Hospital Director of Thoracic Surgery, Todd Weiser, MD, launched a clinical trial at the Hospital in 2012 that offers lung-cancer screenings. “When it’s caught earlier, the patient has the best chance of being cured,” Chin says.
The trial’s screening involves a brief interview with a member of the research team, a questionnaire, and a low-dose CT scan. In the past few years, many landmark publications have shown the lifesaving benefit of screening high-risk populations for lung cancer with low-dose CT scans. This particular trial takes under an hour at White Plains Hospital. The study is currently open to individuals who are at least 50 years of age, have smoked for 20 pack years, and are currently smoking or have stopped smoking within the last 20 years.
Call 914-849-7515 to find out if you meet the criteria for free screening.
Dr. Todd Weiser, chief of thoracic surgery at White Plains Hospital, discussed some uncommon signs of lung cancer that we should all be aware of in a Reader's Digest article, "9 Uncommon Signs of Lung Cancer You Need to Know About.”