LUNG CANCER SCREENING CAN SAVE A LIFE — YOURS

Have you or someone you love been given a diagnosis of cancer? Hearing that word — “cancer” — for the first time can be shocking and very distressful. And it is also the part of my job that I hate the most: breaking the bad news, especially when the disease has advanced, with limited options for treatment.

But that’s not the case if we are prepared.

If you know you’re at risk of having cancer and get screened for early detection, then that is better than having risk factors for and experiencing an acute event, such as a sudden heart attack or a major stroke. As an internist, intensivist and pulmonologist with years of practice, I can tell you that the consequences of a major heart attack or acute stroke could be worse than an early-stage lung cancer. How so?

Well, if you know that you are in an at-risk group for lung cancer, this can

Al-janabi is a pulmonary medical director for the Burr Heart & Lung Clinic at Sharp Grossmont Hospital and lives in El Cajon. prompt you to get the necessary screening. And with early detection and treatment, you have greater potential to live longer, better and survive the cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death of all cancers. But there is hope for those at risk. One of the key ways to increase the chance of survival is through early detection with lung cancer screening. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every year several hundreds of thousands of Americans are diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately, thousands also die of cancer. Since cancer survivorship is related to the stage at which the diagnosis was made, then early diagnosis has a better prognosis.

That’s why the CDC supports screening for lung cancer. While breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, more people die of lung cancer than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. Why? One reason is that more people get screened for breast and colon cancer than those