KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital has launched a new Lung Cancer Screening Program in an effort to increase the early detection of lung cancer, which kills more people than all other cancers combined.
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Most lung cancer patients are diagnosed in the late stages of the disease, and most of them are past or current smokers, according to the American Cancer Society.
Through its new Lung Cancer Screening Program, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital’s goal is to screen patients at risk and diagnose lung cancer in the early stages, as early detection improves lung cancer treatment options and survival.
Under the Medicare-approved criteria, patients are eligible for lung cancer screening if they are between the ages of 55 and 74, have at least a 30-pack per year history of smoking, are currently smoking or have quit smoking less than 15 years ago.
If an abnormality is detected through screening, Henry Mayo’s multi-disciplinary team of cancer specialists will determine if the patient has lung cancer utilizing diagnostic biopsy techniques, including endobronchial ultrasound, or EBUS; electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy; CT-guided biopsy, percutaneous; and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, or VATS biopsy.
Get live news updates about Santa Clarita by following KHTS on Facebook and KHTS on Twitter“Our team will determine if the patient has cancer and at what stage of cancer they’re in,” said Mike Collins, director of interventional pulmonology at Henry Mayo. “We will then provide patients with treatment options based on best practices. These treatments include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery and photodynamic therapy.”
Collins continued, “In addition, the multi-disciplinary team will provide cancer patients with education and support services, and will coordinate follow-up care based on national guidelines and established standards of care.”
The Henry Mayo healthcare team can help patients quit smoking and stop using nicotine products through an individualized tobacco cessation program.
Program participants will be assessed and treated privately by a trained tobacco cessation counselor, who will meet with them once a week for 30 to 45 minutes, initially.
To learn more, click here or call 661-200-1343.
Ed. Note: This article is a news release provided by Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
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“or have quit smoking less than 15 years ago.” The problem with this criteria is that most of us smokers quit more than 15 years ago when smoking became recognized as causing cancer. We are now aging and more likely to get cancer. My husband and I quit smoking in 1985 and we are now 66 and 70. Our friends are getting lung cancer who quit at the same time we did. The older we get, the more likely we are to get cancer. The guidelines need to be changed to include screening for all ex-smokers.