Heavy smokers should scan for lung cancer
This new recommendation, issued by the American Cancer Society, follows on the results of a US National Cancer Institute study that found that annual CT screening for lung cancer among certain groups cut their death rate by 20 percent.
The groups include people aged between 55 and 74 with a 30 pack per year smoking history who still smoke, or who had quit within the past 15 years. Pack-years are calculated by multiplying the number of packs of cigarettes smoked a day by the number of years of smoking.
Despite the benefits CT scans offer smokers, smoking prevention and cessation is still the best health option for smokers. “Screening is not a way to make smoking safe from cancer deaths, and certainly does nothing to prevent smoking-related deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease,” Dr Norman Edelman from the American Lung Association said in a HealthDay News report.
These new guidelines were published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
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