Lung Cancer Screening

Overview

Lung cancer kills more Americans every year than any other type of cancer, including breast, colon and prostate cancers combined. The reason: it’s nearly impossible to detect until the disease is advanced.

But cancer experts at Ingalls Health System are hoping to increase patient survival of this devastating disease in the South Suburbs through an innovative new screening program designed to detect lung cancer at its earliest stages, when it is most curable. Because early-stage lung cancer has no symptoms, more than 85 percent of the 173,000 Americans diagnosed with lung cancer each year are diagnosed too late, after symptoms such as coughing, hoarseness, shortness of breath or spitting up blood are present, and the chance for cure is less than five percent. As a result, nearly 165,000 Americans die from lung cancer each year.

The good news is that recent studies have shown that treatment of lung cancer is most effective – and an individual’s chance of survival significantly increased – if lung cancer is detected early through annual screening, much like mammography is used to screen for breast cancer.

That’s why Ingalls has developed Lungs for Life, a lung cancer screening and early detection program that uses sophisticated spiral CT scanning to detect cancerous lung tumors as small as a grain of rice – when the tumor is still highly responsive to treatment.

Designed by a multi-disciplinary team of physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals, Ingalls’ Lungs for Life program is the first of its kind in the South Suburbs and represents a real breakthrough in the early detection and treatment of lung cancer. The program also focuses on the prevention of lung cancer and other diseases through a comprehensive smoking cessation program.

Using criteria from several national lung cancer screening studies as guidelines, Ingalls cancer experts recommend annual lung CT scans for individuals at high risk of developing lung cancer. High-risk individuals include current or former smokers of at least one pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years or more, or individuals with prolonged exposure to second-hand smoke, asbestos, beryllium, uranium or radon.

Affordably priced at just $285, the CT scans for lung cancer early detection are not currently reimbursed by most insurance plans. A physician referral is not required to schedule a lung CT scan.

For added convenience, lung CT scans are available at four Ingalls locations, including the main hospital in Harvey and the Ingalls Family Care Centers in Calumet City, Flossmoor and Tinley Park. Also included is a screening spirometry to help detect other lung function disorders.

For more information about Ingalls’ new Lungs for Life program, please call 708.915.LUNG (5864).