“Lung cancer screening is a process, not a scan”

TheoryLab

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer, but if it’s found at an earlier stage, when it is small and before it has spread, it is more likely to be successfully treated. To take us through the state of lung cancer screening in the US—big picture issues, challenges faced by patients and clinicians, and reasons for excitement—we were joined by two leading experts in the field. Christopher Slatore, MD, MS, is an investigator for the Portland VA Health Service Research and Development Center of Innovation, Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care (CIVIC). He’s Associate Professor of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, and he’s a pulmonologist who conducts lung cancer screening. He’s also an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant recipient. Anne Melzer, MD, MS, is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. She is an Investigator at the Minneapolis VA Center for Care Delivery and Outcomes Research. And she is a pulmonologist who is the medical director of the lung cancer screening at the Minneapolis VA. The American Cancer Society recommends annual lung cancer screening with a low-dose CT scan for certain people at higher risk for lung cancer. Visit cancer.org for details: https://www.cancer.org/health-care-professionals/american-cancer-society-prevention-early-detection-guidelines/lung-cancer-screening-guidelines.html 4:18 – Welcome Dr. Melzer and Dr. Slatore 5:51 – Dr. Melzer on the lung cancer burden in the United States 8:46 – Dr. Slatore on the state of lung cancer screening in the US 12:08 – Some of the big picture problems they’re trying to solve related to lung cancer screening 16:47 – The US Preventive Services Task Force’s recent recommendation regarding lung cancer screening: https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/lung-cancer-screening 23:01 – Challenges that exist for patients when it comes to lung cancer screening 25:28 – Some of the frustrations clinicians have with lung cancer screening 30:39 – “We need to make it easier for patients and primary care providers to do lung cancer screening.” 34:57 – It all comes down to an old Seinfeld episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2GmGSNvaM 36:31 – The impact of ACS funding on Dr. Slatore’s research 37:28 – The aspect of her research that Dr. Melzer is most excited about 38:50 – Messages they’d like to share with cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers