Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer of all, largely because it is difficult to diagnose until it is very advanced. Now more researchers are using the C-T, or CAT scan, to detect lung cancer. It is an older technology, used in a new way. It has better imaging than the traditional chest x-rays now used for lung cancer detection and can detect small cancers earlier. Researchers at U-T Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, feel if they can pick up smaller nodules earlier, they can save more lives.
Early detection is the key to fighting cancer.
For the past few months, he has studied patients who may be at risk for lung cancer. He targets adults 45 and older who have smoked a pack a day for at least ten years. You are not out of the woods just because you quit smoking, although, Dr. Hughes says, over the years, your lung cancer risk declines. His patients will come back for further monitoring and potential needle biopsies if the growth grows more suspicious. It is too early in the testing yet to release data or draw any conclusions.