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August 02, 2013
Rockville, Maryland - In an updated recommendation, the United States Preventive Services Task Force is now urging heavy smokersto receive an annual CT or CAT scan in an effort to diagnose lung cancer early. Though this change to medical standards has been met with approval from the medical community, some health advocates are pushing for a wider scope of at-risk individuals to include those exposed to asbestos and with a family history of lung cancers.
Often lung cancer diagnoses occur after the disease progresses to an advanced stage, thereby lessening the time for treatments and other palliative measures. With the new directives, doctors will be able to better target at risk individuals and be able to spot cancerous lung cells earlier. The United States Preventive Services Task Force stipulates that severely at risk individuals are those who smoked a pack per day for thirty years.
Though this population has been identified as the most likely to develop lung cancer, some health advocates want to push the already comprehensive boundaries even further to include other high-risk groups.
CT scans can produce an inordinate amount of false positive readings during lung cancer screenings. Despite this, the task force urges those at the highest levels of risk to undergo an annual screening.
For heavy smokers, asbestos exposure increases the chances of later developing serious lung diseases including lung cancer and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that affects three major organs in the body: lungs, heart or abdominal cavity. In all types of mesothelioma cancer, the pleura or protective membrane surrounding each organ is damaged by microscopic asbestos particles. Similarly to lung cancer, mesothelioma is often diagnosed too late for any substantive treatment options, and is fatal.
The task force’s recommendations are not yet finalized and are currently going through an extensive review and feedback period. Finalized recommendations are expected by year’s end.
The United States Preventive Services Task Force was created by Congress to develop new recommendations and update best practices for the medical community. The task force is comprised of medical professionals from diverse specialties.
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