LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — In his declaration of November as Lung Cancer Awareness Month 2023, President Biden said that this year alone some 250,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with lung cancer.
While it remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in America, early detection of lung cancer or any cancer can greatly improve the outcome.
In Arkansas, lung cancer is among the deadliest forms of cancer in both men and women. We spoke to a local woman who credits a simple and optional test with saving her life.
Kathy Jones is 73 years old. She enjoys retirement, hanging out with her sister, and watching her grandchildren grow up. Two years ago, however, she wasn’t sure she’d live to see this day.
“It was time for my Medicare annual wellness exam, and my doctor suggested, you know, 'You've been a smoker for a long time. I think you need to have a CT scan’, and so I agreed," Kathy described.
The decision to have the screening done is optional, but Kathy’s doctor knew of her history as a smoker— and now Kathy credits that scan with saving her life.
She later learned from another doctor that she did, in fact, have lung cancer.
“He diagnosed me with Adenocarcinoma. And that's when he put me with Dr. Katy Marino, my lifesaver. And she performed the surgery. We caught it so quickly that there was no chemo or radiation involved. And I’m very grateful for that," she explained.
Dr. Katy Marino is a Thoracic Surgeon at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. She said that cases like Kathy’s happen all the time, where the patient has no reason to suspect there's anything wrong, and also credited that CT scan with catching Kathy's cancer early.
“One of the things we know about lung cancer is that often there are no signs and symptoms. So I’m pleased we have Kathy here today because she is one of those patients who had no signs and no symptoms, and would have never known about this had she not undergone a CT scan," Dr. Marino explained.
The latest federal guidelines recommend a low-dose CT screening for lung cancer in current or former smokers who have quit within the past 15 years, adults aged 50 to 80, or adults with a smoking history of what's called “20-pack years”, meaning they smoked one pack a day for 20 years, or two packs per day for 10 years, and so on.
Dr. Marino added that advances in lung cancer treatments now mean hope to people who might once have received a terminal prognosis.
“Lung cancer is no longer an untreatable disease. We look at it as a very treatable disease, especially in those patients who can get lung cancer screening, to be able to find their cancers earlier and have more options for surgery," said Dr. Marino.
Kathy said that she wants others to know about the importance of having a conversation with your doctor about whether a CT scan is right for you.
“Don't think it can't happen to you because it can," she added. "I never thought it would happen to me.”