Just 8.2%.
That’s the five-year survival rate for people diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, which is cancer that has spread to other areas of the body.
Catch that same cancer early — at Stage 1 or 2 — and the odds of living for five years post-diagnosis jump up to 67.8%.
Luke Johnson, a social worker at Baptist Cancer Center in Columbus, wants people to take a long, hard look at those odds and then make an effort to get screened for lung cancer early and often.
“One of the differences is that the treatment between Stage 1 and Stage 4 is so much more brutal on your body,” Johnson said. “Then when it gets in another organ system, or in your bones, you have to address those things, too.”
Lung cancer can grow for a long time before it becomes detectable, Johnson said.
“One of the tricky things is your lungs make a pretty good portion of your chest cavity,” he said. “A tumor can grow in your lungs for a pretty good while before you start having problems. That’s one of the reasons folks get diagnosed later.”
Johnson recommended frequent screenings for lung cancer via the low-dose CT program. The screening is non-invasive, easy to qualify for and looks for any kind of nodule or mass in the lungs.
“If you think of a mammogram for ladies and how ladies want a yearly mammogram, we want a lung cancer screening to get to that point,” he said. “We want it to be that common in the communities we serve.”
Johnson recommended starting yearly lung cancer screenings at around age 50 for former smokers, especially those who smoked a pack a day for 20 years or two packs a year for 10 years.
“We recommend the screening for people between the ages of 50 and 77 for people who either currently smoke or quit within the last 15 years,” he said. “In our area we have a tremendous amount of folks who smoke, or who smoked in the past.”
The test takes five to 10 minutes and can be recommended by a primary care physician, he said.
“This is not a one-and-done,” he said. “Because of the way cancer grows, or has delayed growth, we want it done every year. Insurance will pay for it every year because it’s a screening. Insurers also know if we catch (cancer) early they don’t have to spend as much money later (for treatment).”
Nationally, 53% of lung cancer diagnoses are of Stage 4 cancers, he said. Only about 21% are caught in the early stages.
“We want to flip that statistic because the treatment itself is vastly different,” he said. “With a small nodule localized in the lung, you’ve got more treatment options. A surgeon can get that (nodule) out, and a lot of times no chemotherapy is recommended.”
Another treatment option is specialized radiation treatment, he said.
“It’s non-invasive, and typically lasts about two-and-a-half weeks with (treatments) two days a week,” he said. “It doesn’t take the nodule out, but it stops it from growing.”
Some types of cancer require chemotherapy, but it can usually be avoided if the cancer is caught early, he said.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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