Lung Cancer Awareness Week
It may not be too late to stop…do it today!
Good morning. This is Dr. Joe Cincotta This week is lung cancer awareness week. I think that there are few other health problems that have generated more interest and efforts at prevention. That smoking is the major cause of lung cancer is irrefutable. Yet we continue to see people joining the ranks of smokers everyday, and we continue to search for ways to help those who do smoke and who are interested in quitting. There are several types of lung caner. Treatment and prognosis will depend on both the type of the cancer and whether or not the cancer has spread at the time of diagnosis. Currently there is no widely recognized screening test for the early detection of lung cancer. We do know that plain chest X-rays are not an effective means of detecting lung cancer at an early stage. CT scanning may offer some promise as an early detection test. However, expert consensus is lacking at this time as to whether this test should be widely adopted as a screening tool, and many health insurers do not currently cover CT as a screening test. My best advice to you on this subject is not to smoke. Please. Thank you.