Indian River Radiology

LUNG SCREEN

Lung Cancer Facts:
• Half of all lung cancer cases are in people who currently do not smoke.
• Lung cancer is now the leading cause of death in women (more than breast cancer & ovarian cancer combined).
• Lung cancer can be cured in more than half the cases, if discovered before it has spread.
• Lung cancer may not produce any symptoms until it is too late for a cure.
• Women with a history of smoking are more likely to get lung cancer than men smokers.
• About 7% of lung cancer victims have no history of smoking.

Questions & Answers:
Q: What is the scanning process?
A: A low-dose spiral CT Scan of the chest done without any injection of x-ray "dye".

Q: How long does it take?
A: Just a few minutes of the patient's time. The computer re-constructs the images from the spiral scan.

Q: What do I have to do?
A: There is no preparation at all. The patient lies on the scanner table and is asked to hold their breath for a moment.

Q: Is this like a chest x-ray?
A: No - a CT Scan displays images of your lungs cross-sectionally, like slices of bread. The CT Scan can detect abnormallities that are too small to be seen in a chest x-ray. A recent study done at Cornell University Medical showed that, of 1,000 persons with no symptoms, 25 had malignancies that were too small for a chest x-ray to detect.

Q: Will my Health Insurance pay for this scan?
A: Unfortunately, no. Health Plans and the Government (Medicare) focus their funds on "treatments" rather than early detection.