Скачать или смотреть Podcast: How screening tech could reduce lung cancer deaths | OSUCCC – James

Through state-of-the-art tech, Ohio State lung cancer doctors are working to reduce deaths through early detection.

David Carbone, MD, PhD, is determined to reduce the number of lives lost to lung cancer. “It’s the number one cause of cancer deaths for men and for women in this country, and worldwide,” says Carbone, a lung cancer expert and director of The James Thoracic Oncology Center. “That’s why lung cancer screening is so important.”

Among the ways that Carbone and his Ohio State colleagues are increasing access to screening is through new technologies, including The James Lung Cancer Screening Mobile Unit, which will travel Ohio screening at-risk and underserved people. The goal is to diagnosis lung cancer in its earliest stages, when it’s more treatable, which would lead to a reduction in the number of lung-cancer-related deaths in the state.

Smoking is by far the leading cause of lung cancer, linked to approximately 85 percent of all diagnoses, according to Carbone. Therefore, longtime smokers are among those for whom screening is prioritized. For example, the at-risk population the mobile unit will screen is defined as people over 50 who have smoked the equivalent of at least a pack a day for 20 years, among other criteria.

“These are the people who are at the highest risk, but we are studying ways to broaden the criteria and screen more people,” says Carbone, who emphasizes that non-smokers also need to pay attention to possible symptoms of lung cancer. “If you have lungs, you can get lung cancer. I’ve had many patients who never smoked.”

Screening at-risk people is vital because a lung cancer tumor “can reach a significant size, a softball size, and the person won’t feel anything — no cough, no symptoms,” Carbone explains, adding that symptoms often don’t materialize until the lung cancer has metastasized and is very difficult to treat.

Lung cancer screening is a simple process that only takes 10 to 15 seconds. “My hope is that in the next three years, the mobile unit will screen thousands of people,” Carbone says.

Learn more about lung cancer care and research at Ohio State: https://go.osu.edu/CNJP

Learn more about lung cancer screening at the OSUCCC – James: https://go.osu.edu/CNJK

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Home: https://cancer.osu.edu
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