Every hour, another 17 people die of lung cancer. That's 155,000 deaths a year. University of Iowa Health Care specialists are conducting a clinical trial of lung cancer screening methods to see which is the best at saving lives.
Researchers with the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa have enrolled more than 500 current and former smokers in the National Lung Cancer Screening trial. The goal is to determine if the early detection of small tumors in the lungs will help save lives.
Researchers from 30 centers across the nation are enrolling 50,000 people. The study focuses on men and women, age 55 to 74, who are at high risk for lung cancer because of their smoking history.
"Lung cancer is the commonest cause of cancer death in men and women in the United States. Over 4,000 people in the state of Iowa will die of lung cancer this year," says Geoffrey McLennan, Ph.D., UI Health Care pulmonologist. "This study addresses fixing that problem."
"Take in a deep breath."
Both chest X-rays and spiral CT scans are used in an effort to find lung cancer early on. So far, neither has been shown to reduce a person's chance of dying from lung cancer. This study aims to show which test is better at reducing deaths from this disease.
Tom Witherspoon lost his wife to lung cancer two years ago. They were both were heavy smokers. And now Tom is concerned about his own health.
"At the end, to watch her as I sat there holding her hand gasping for breath as she died. It's not an experience I want to go through again," says Witherspoon.
The stakes are high for the estimated 90 million current and former smokers in the U.S. who are at higher risk for lung cancer.
Today, more Americans die of lung cancer than from prostate, breast, colon, and pancreatic cancers combined.
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