Screening for Lung Cancer

Cardiothoracic surgeon Nicholas Lopez advises that the best way to prevent lung cancer is to stop smoking and emphasizes the importance of early detection through screenings.

Nicholas Lopez, MD, Cardiothoracic Surgery

Most folks think about pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, but actually lung cancer is the cancer that kills more folks than all those combined. There are two major preventative strategies in treating the potential of lung cancer. The first thing is to try and do everything you can to quit smoking. That’s going to reduce your risk.

Ronald Smith, Bardwell, Kentucky

I smoked for 44 years, as a matter of fact, a pack to a pack and a half a day, and I haven’t smoked since Oct. 6. I quit smoking because I had to have part of this lung and this lung to breathe. So I thought, well the best thing I can do is just put them down, and I haven’t picked them up since, and I don’t even want one. I hope I never want to pick one up again.

Dr. Lopez:
The next most important thing is screening. So, it’s a matter of having a conversation with your physician. Express concern that you want to have a screening and come to the hospital. Get a cat scan. It is a matter of a few minutes, and then you talk over the results with the physician.

Smith:
He showed me on film what it looked like, and it was a little dark spot on my lung. As far as an everyday person, I would have never known it until it was just too late. So, I would highly recommend that you get your physicals, get scanned, do whatever you have to do, because it’s just God’s grace that I’m here.

Dr. Lopez:
Early detection is key to overall survival and also for the most amount of options for treatment.

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