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    Dr. Youssef | CT Lung Screening champion

    When it comes to fighting for smokers and those at risk of lung cancer, there is no better friend than Dr. Ehab Youssef of Regional Medical Imaging.

    When RMI brought the doctor on board in 2014, the practice already knew the grim lung cancer statistics for Genesee and Lapeer counties – and Oakland County is only marginally better.

    There were an estimated 8,440 new cases of lung cancer in Michigan in 2016, according to the American Cancer Society.

    Lung cancer accounts for 33% of all cancer deaths across all ethnic groups – more deaths than other leading cancers such as colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined.

    It is those statistics that were one of the reasons Dr. Youssef joined RMI. He is passionate about cardio-thoracic imaging and wants to fight lung cancer here in mid- and southeastern Michigan. Dr. Youssef also moved to our RMI Flint location due to a lack of radiologists specifically trained in cardio-thoracic imaging, which he sees as a critical specialty.

    A friend to smokers

    Dr. Youssef sees smokers caught in the proverbial Catch-22 – on the one hand they are continuously reminded how dangerous smoking is, and on the other, they are fighting a powerfully addictive substance. Some simply believe their long-time smoking dooms them to get lung cancer, making them somewhat reluctant to be screened. He said this is one of many myths related to smoking and lung cancer.

    A lack of symptoms (“smoker’s cough”) does not mean a smoker’s risks are any less. Being asymptomatic leads many smokers to weigh their risks in the wrong direction and avoid CT lung screening, which provides the means to catch cancer early, when it is far more treatable.

    If you are a smoker, RMI’s CT Lung Screening “champion” is here to provide the quick answers your doctor needs to help you know, for sure, what your risks are. He strongly advocates anyone who has smoked or is smoking get tested with CT Lung Screening as soon as possible.

    This passionate fighter against lung cancer feels that with enough resources to promote awareness and encourage screening, lung cancer deaths from smoking could dramatically plummet.

    That’s a day Dr. Youssef, and all of us at RMI, look forward to.