Prevent Cancer Foundation Blog

Earlier this month, the big news about the 20% reduction in lung cancer in a high-risk population that took part in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) has been widely covered by the media.  In the wake of the announced positive results of early detection of lung cancer with spiral CT scans, a number of commentators have commented on the potential harms of engaging in lung cancer screening. While there are critical issues that relate to the ...

The Prevent Cancer Foundation joined with the Lung Cancer Alliance and the American Legacy Foundation to send a letter to Carolyn M. Clancy M.D., the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), urging the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) to take immediate action to change their current rating for CT scans. The USPSTF is an independent panel of primary care providers that publish “Recommendation Statements” on all cancer screenings. The USPSTF’s guidelines ...

Today marks the 35th annual Great American Smokeout, which encourages smokers to lay off the habit for at least 24 hours and to use this date to make a plan to quit smoking. By quitting smoking, an individual can take steps toward a healthier lifestyle – one that can lead to reducing lung cancer risk while improving the lives of those around them. According to the American Cancer Society, there have been great results since the ...

This morning the National Cancer Institute (NCI) released the initial results of the National Lung Screening Trial, a large-scale, NCI-sponsored test of screening methods to reduce deaths from lung cancer by detecting cancers at earlier, more treatable stages. More than 53,000 people at high risk of developing lung cancer were screened by either chest X-ray or low-dose spiral CT scans.  The study found twenty percent fewer lung cancer deaths among trial participants screened with low-dose spiral-CT. These ...