Lung Cancer Screening to Improve Survival | Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Valley Health offers free, low-cost lung cancer screening every month as part of November’s Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

For the past few years, Valley Health has proposed one day in November to charge uninsured patients $ 90 for screening. This year, they are charging $ 20 for screening during November.

Patients with insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid can be screened free of charge.

People who are eligible for lung cancer screening must meet the following criteria:

They have smoked 1 pack a day for over 20 years (or 2 packs a day for 15 years)

They quit smoking within the last 15 years

They are between 55 and 80 years old

Screening includes low-dose CT scans and is performed at all six regional hospitals in Valley Health. Patients will also be consulted by a doctor or radiologist.

The goal of screening is to diagnose cancer early enough to successfully treat it, but screening is still relatively new.

Dr. Daniel Hines, a pulmonologist at the Valley Health Cancer Center on the Winchester Medical Center campus, said:

“It’s not prevalent, but it explains more cancer diagnoses than any other cancer,” he said. “The sooner we catch it, the better.”

Only widely available since 2013, screening is unique because it is the primary way to know that a patient has lung cancer and still be able to do anything about it.

Unlike other illnesses, patients with lung cancer tend to be unaware of their symptoms until they have progressed, at which point treatment is usually unsuccessful.

Screening alerts patients to problems years before symptoms appear.

So far this year, Valley Health has performed 1,609 low-dose CT scans and found 19 cancers, according to Lindsey Temple, Operations Manager at the Valley Health Cancer Center at Winchester Medical Center. Ten of them were stage 1.

Nationally, lung cancer affects 57.3 people for every 100,000 people. https://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov..

Virginia has reported an incidence of 54.8 per 100,000, but the region ranges from 46.4 in Clark County to 75.1 in Warren County.

Elsewhere in the region, Frederick County reported an incidence of 58.4, Shenandoah County reported an incidence of 61.9, Winchester County reported an incidence of 69.3, and Page County reported an incidence of 70.7.

In West Virginia, an incidence of lung cancer is reported in 79 out of every 100,000 people.

Still, not many people know that there is a lung cancer screening process, said Dr. Charini Lady, a thoracic surgeon at the Cancer Center.

By far, smoking is the main risk factor for developing lung cancer, which accounts for at least 95% of local lung cancer diagnoses, they said. In addition to age and long-term smoking, radon poisoning, used smoke, asbestos or other carcinogens and radiation therapy can also contribute to lung cancer.

While screening focuses on certain high-risk patients, Lady said other patients can learn more about their health through regular physical examinations with their primary care physician.

Anyone with shortness of breath can have a medical test to determine the cause, she said.

Hospital accidental lung nodule programs may refer patients to Reddy and Hynes and often share information with other physicians in the field to provide the best care for the patient.

To avoid the possibility of lung cancer, Reddy and Hynes quit smoking, quit smoking as soon as possible, do not use other tobacco products, do not smoke or use e-cigarettes. It is recommended.

They said that vaporization was not long enough for studies to prove its association with lung cancer, but that vaporization has been shown to cause lung damage.

With the increase in vaping among adolescents in 2018 and 2019, they said many patients showed lung damage or developed lung infections.

The problem, they said, is the wide variety of chemicals in arc juice that can be harmful to the lungs. In addition, Hines said heating the liquid and inhaling it into the lungs is by no means a good idea.

“The lungs are a delicate organ,” Reddy said.

Its purpose is to get oxygen into the cells of the body while removing and excreting carbon dioxide.

“This is one of the reasons we live,” she said.

Call 540-536-LUNG (5864) to schedule a screening.