Fact: Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the United States.
Also a fact: It doesn’t need to be.
To that end, and with November recognized as Lung Cancer Awareness Month, St. Tammany Health System has launched a campaign to raise awareness not just about lung cancer but also about low-dose CT scans, a quick, easy and affordable procedure that can detect lung cancer early and, as a result, give patients a better chance of beating it.
“It’s really pretty simple: Low-dose CT scans save lives,” said Megan Broussard, the low-dose CT program coordinator at St. Tammany Health System. “If lung cancer is detected early, as a stage one disease, the five-year survival rate is between 68 and 92 percent. If it’s left until stage four, you go to a 10 percent five-year survival rate at best.”
Fortunately, Broussard said, low-dose CT scans are quick and painless.
“There are no needles, no dyes, no fasting,” she said. “You even keep your regular clothes on, and – for those concerned with small spaces – your head never even goes through the machine at any point during the procedure.”
So, how does it work?
A low-dose CT scan produces a 3D X-ray picture of a patient’s lungs. That image is taken using a small dose of radiation that is more than that used in a chest X-ray but much lower than in other types of CT scans.
During the procedure, which takes fewer than 15 seconds, a patient lays horizontally on a sliding platform. A technologist then positions the patient, sliding them feet-first through the ring-shaped CT scanner until their chest is in proper alignment with the equipment.
The tech then briefly leaves the room, presses a button and, just like that, the procedure is complete.
“And, really, that’s it,” Broussard said.
The scans are then evaluated by St. Tammany Health System’s trained radiologists, who look for any abnormalities. Results are usually available within 24 to 48 hours.
In addition to being quick and easy, low-dose CT scans are also safe. In fact, St. Tammany Health System’s Paul D. Cordes Outpatient Pavilion in Covington, where its low-dose CT program is based, is the only facility in the New Orleans metro area designated a Screening Center of Excellence by the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, in recognition of STHS’s commitment to providing responsible, high-quality and safe screening practices.
In addition, most insurance plans cover low-dose CT scans for patients who are 50 to 77 years old, who smoked within the past 15 years and those who have a history of 20 to 30 pack-years (calculated by multiplying the number of packs smoked per day by number of years smoked).
Because anyone can develop lung cancer – not just smokers or former smokers – St. Tammany Health System is also offering a $99 cash special on low-dose CT scans through the month of November for those not be covered by their insurance.
“So, now’s the time,” Broussard said. “Come in and get your low-dose CT scan this November, so you can breathe easy.”