Dr. Carole Myers
Welcome to HealthConnections, the show about people, health, and policy. I'm Dr. Carole Myers. According to the American Lung Association, early diagnosis rates for lung cancer in Tennessee are below national rates, and Tennessee is above the national average for the percentage of patients who do not receive treatment, so we're not in a good position. I'm joined today by Dr. Sean Jordan. He's the Director of Lung Cancer Screening and the Co-Director of Thoracic Oncology at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, and we're going to discuss lung cancer screening and advances in treatment of early stage lung cancer. Welcome to HealthConnections, Dr. Jordan.
Dr. Sean Jordan
Thank you.
Please help us understand lung cancer's profile in the Volunteer State.
Sure. So, Tennessee is unique in that most states, breast or prostate cancer, are the most common cancer. Tennessee is one of the few states where lung cancer is actually the most common cancer, and the reason for that is twofold. One is because so many Tennesseans are smokers, and two is that we have high levels of radon in the environment. So those two things combined means that we have more lung cancer nationally and worldwide. Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer, and that's because it's often found so late that we can't do anything about it to treat it effectively.
What role does lung cancer screening play in improving the profile you just described for Tennessee.
So, lung cancer screening has been a game changer in the survival for lung cancer. There were two big studies, one in the U.S., one in the Netherlands, and they both found that if you undergo regular lung cancer screening for a high-risk patient, meaning a smoker, that they have a 20 to 40 percent risk reduction in dying from lung cancer, so it's been a big changer for us in terms of finding cancer earlier and being able to treat it more effectively.
Let's move to what are the recommendations for screening? Who should get it, and when should they get it?
Right. So, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommends that for people ages 50 to 80, current smokers are smoked within the last 15 years, and have a 20 pack year history. Now, a pack year is basically a way that we measure how many cigarettes you smoked over what time period. So, for example, if you smoked one pack a day for 20 years, you have a 20 year pack history. If you smoke two packs a day for 10 years, you also have a 20 pack year history.
Is lung cancer screening covered by private insurance and Medicare?
Yes. Since 2015, lung cancer screening has been covered by both of those.
Do you have any other words of wisdom for our listeners about lung cancer and lung cancer screening?
Yes. So, I want people to understand that lung cancer treatment looks very different than it may have looked for their parents or their grandparents' generation. Nowadays, if we find lung cancer early enough that we can treat it with a minimally invasive surgery or a short course of radiation. The drugs that we also have to treat lung cancer are undergoing a radical change right now and are much better tolerated. And we're finding new treatments every day, so it's very exciting time for lung cancer.
This is Dr. Carole Myers, joined today by Dr. Sean Jordan, Director of Lung Cancer Screening at UT Medical Center. Thank you for listening to HealthConnections. All past episodes are available at wuot.org for on-demand listening. And listeners, your questions and comments are always welcome.
