New guidelines issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force expand the eligibility criteria for lung cancer screening, meaning more people who are at high risk for the disease qualify for annual screenings using CT scans.
“The new guidelines are that anyone 50 to 80 years of age, who is at high risk for lung cancer because of their smoking history should be screened,” says David Leder, MD, a radiologist on the Medical Staff of Penn Medicine Princeton Health. “Previously the starting age was 55, but we now recommend that 50 is a more appropriate age to enter a CT lung screening program and catch the disease earlier.”
Individuals at high risk have a 20-pack year smoking history, meaning they have smoked the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years over their lifetime and still smoke or have quit smoking in the last 15 years.
“The previous recommendation focused on a 30-pack year history,” says Dr. Leder, “but the risks of developing lung cancer have been found to develop at a much lower level than that, particularly for women and Black smokers, who seem to develop lung cancer after less exposure to smoking.”
To make screenings more accessible, Princeton Health makes scans available at no cost to patients who meet eligibility criteria.
Talk to Your Doctor
“You should talk to your doctor if you think you may be a candidate for screening,” says John Heim, MD, Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Penn Medicine Princeton Health. “Lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, is the leading cause of cancer death among men and women, and about 80 percent of those deaths are thought to result from smoking.”
In addition to annual screenings to catch lung cancer early, make a plan to quit smoking. “If you stop smoking before cancer develops, your damaged lung tissue gradually begins to heal,” says Dr. Heim, board certified in general and thoracic surgery. “No matter how old you are or how long you smoked, it is never too late to quit.”