WARWICK – Kent Hospital has created a lung cancer early-detection program that aims to identify people at high risk for the disease, detect early-stage cancers and try to cure them before it’s too late.
“The ultimate goal with the program is to find potential cases of lung cancer at the earliest stage possible when treatment can be most successful, and help save lives,” said Dr. Michael Dacey, Kent senior vice president and chief medical officer.
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“While there is no screening for lung cancer,” Dacey said, “we can certainly be proactive to work with high-risk patients and their primary care physician, to determine further testing and if necessary, treatment.”
The program is modeled after programs at other major institutions. It is being coordinated by Daicey and Drs. Thomas Raimondo, Laurie Reeder and Jonathan Gates.
Early-stage lung cancer is usually asymptomatic, but once it advances, it is deadlier than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. There were 215,000 new lung cancer cases in 2008, with 161,000 deaths, including 600 in Rhode Island, according to the American Cancer Society.
High-risk populations include smokers and those who have had exposure to asbestos, radon, nickel, arsenic, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (byproducts of fuel burning).
Patients interested in the new program should consult with their primary care doctor or find a physician through Kent’s referral program. If their doctor deems them to be a good candidate, they may undergo a low-dose CT scan to look for small abnormal nodules in the lungs. The program is not yet covered by insurance, so the tests would cost $300. If nodules are found, appropriate referrals will be made for further studies or to begin treatment.
Additional information is available at kenthospital.org.
