November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, and the American Cancer Society urges discussing lung cancer screening with a doctor DES MOINES, Iowa , Nov. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women, aside from skin cancer, and stands as the overall leading cause of cancer death in the United States . According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), an estimated 2,600 Iowa residents will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year.
Symptoms usually don't appear until the disease is already at an advanced stage, making lung cancer screening critical to finding it early when it may be easier to treat. While anyone can get lung cancer, the risk is higher for people who currently smoke or formerly smoked. The American Cancer Society's lung cancer screening guideline recommends yearly lung cancer screening for people aged 50 to 80 years old who smoke or formerly smoked and have a 20 year or greater pack-year history.
A pack-year is equal to smoking 1 pack per day for a year. The recommended annual screening test for lung cancer is a low-dose computed tomography scan (also called a low-dose CT scan, or LDCT). Ten years have passed since the U.
S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) first recommended low-dose CT for lung cancer screening, yet lung cancer screening rates remain low. In Iowa , only 7 in 100 eligible individuals have undergone the screening ( source ).
This is a striking contrast to more established screening tests for other canc.