CT Scans Valuable to Current and Former Smokers, Says ALA

Matthew Skoufalos | | Radiology Business | Business Intelligence
If you smoke or have smoked, a CT scan could save your life by helping in the early detection of lung cancer, says the American Lung Association (ALA); in 80-90 percent of cases, a lung cancer patient has been a smoker. The ALA hopes that CT screening could help to increase the five-year survival rate for lung cancer from 15.6 percent, where it stands now; "as compared to an over 90 percent survival rate for breast, colon and prostate cancers," according to a release from ALA. Low-dose CT scans could reduce deaths from lung cancer mortality by 20 percent as compared with chest x-rays alone.

Matthew Skoufalos

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