November marks Lung Cancer Awareness Month, right on the heels of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. However, unlike breast cancer, this is a disease where those who should be seeking early detection seem to studiously avoid doing so.
It’s important this month to think about lung cancer, especially if you or a loved one who is a smoker or may have been exposed to chemicals or other pollutants that increase the risk of lung cancer.
Started in 1985, Lung Cancer Awareness Month was created to tackle the tough issue of awareness. Make no mistake, acknowledging you or a loved one could be at risk for lung cancer is difficult. For smokers, it is more so. After all, smokers must deal with two powerful emotions: fear and guilt. And for many people, the easiest way to copy to avoid or deny smoking is creating the conditions for a lethal outcome. There are many myths about lung cancer, but the truth is readily available.
The good news is there are MANY resources to help smokers face facts, work on quitting, and quit for good. And there are many immediate effects of quitting right now that are surprising. Within 12 hours of quitting, your sense of smell returns to normal; in 2-12 weeks your circulation and lung function improves; after a year you cut your risk of coronary heart disease in half.
As you’re getting up to speed with your plan to stop smoking, take the time to be screened with a CT lung screening because chest x-rays are not enough.
A CT lung screen is crucial in detecting any problems in your lungs early, when issues are more treatable and are shown to reduce lung-cancer deaths by 20%. Even after you quit, we recommend an annual CT lung screening every year for the 15 years following.
We urge you not to be scared – get screened. RMI’s CT lung screening team is led by Dr. Ehab Youssef, a specialist in cardio-thoracic imaging, who will get the answers needed to make a prompt and accurate diagnosis of your lung health.
Want to learn more about CT Lung Screening and smoking cessation? Visit our CT Lung Screening page and hear the story of one man whose life was saved by a simply screening. It’s worth a breath or two.
