Lung cancer screenings may again gain approval
August 31st, 2006
In New York state, patients who want to make sure they don’t have the most deadly form of cancer can’t ask a doctor to use advanced scanning methods to check them for it.? It may seem like an unnecessary paradox, but the risks associated with a false finding of lung cancer symptoms are real enough that a number of other states similarly bar the practice.
At 4:00 pm on August 31st, 2006 Tracie Klein said:
This is the thing that upsets me the most. I do understand that there are a number of false positives with low-dose spiral cts. However, what is the alternative? Until a better screening method is developed, we need to use the best modality available to diagnose lung cancer in its earliest stages. I’m sure that anyone diagnosed with stage IV metastatic lung cancer would agree with me. Because lung cancer typically does not manifest symptoms, at least symptoms severe enough to warrant a doctor’s visit, until it has spread beyond the lungs, the morbidity rate is extremely high. For all the victims and their families, it is time to make lung cancer screening as common as mammograms and PSA tests.