More lung cancer screenings urged: Where does Nevada rank?

Screening for lung cancer can save lives, and there’s an urgent need for more screening of people of color. That’s among the takeaways from the recently released “State of Lung Cancer” report from the American Lung Association.

“Lung cancer is the largest (cancer) killer of adult men and women worldwide. Many of the reasons for that is it’s so late in its stage, often, when it’s diagnosed,” says Dr. Janani Reisenauer, a Mayo Clinic thoracic surgeon and interventional pulmonologist. “Historical data show that 70 percent of lung cancers that were being diagnosed were at stage 3, which makes it much more challenging to treat and cure someone of lung cancer.

“Through lung cancer screening, we’ve been able to identify patients much earlier in their stage, which gives them more treatment options and much more hopeful chances of cure. For that reason, screening is important,” she adds.

Nationally, only 4.5 percent of those at high risk for lung cancer were screened in 2022, according to the report.

Screening guidelines

The latest update from the American Cancer Society recommends that people with a substantial smoking history undergo an annual low-dose CT scan for lung cancer screening. Reisenauer says the new guidelines allow a broader population to be eligible for screening.

“Any patient with a significant smoking history and over age 55 (are the new guidelines). It used to be just 20 years of smoking, and now we’ve redefined it to say the number of cigarettes per day times the number of years smoking,” she says.

“Even if you were smoking for only 10 years and not 20 years, but you were smoking twice as much, you might also be a candidate under the new screening guidelines for a CT,” she continues.

Reisenauer recommends that eligible patients talk with their primary care team about screening.

Screening includes a low-dose CT scan to detect suspicious lung nodules and signs of lung cancer. Detecting lung cancer in its early stages significantly increases the likelihood of successful treatment and cure.

Nevada’s standing

In the American Lung Association’s annual report, Nevada ranked 47th out of 50 states plus the District of Columbia for lung cancer screening at 1.4 percent. The Silver State ranked 35th in smoking rate at 15.5 percent.

To review the complete report on Nevada, visit lung.org/research/state-of-lung-cancer/states/nevada.