Jeff Yang, Thoracic Surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Founder of the American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative, shared a post on X about a recent article he and his colleagues co-authored, adding:
“Alexandra Potter, Lecia Sequist and I wrote a new editorial in JAMA responding to a powerful lung cancer screening study by Bandi et al.
In 2024, only 18.7% of adults eligible for lung cancer screening in the U.S. were screened. That means most people who should have had an early, treatable cancer found in time… never got that chance. Even with uptake this low, screening is estimated to save nearly 15,000 lives over 5 years—these are parents, siblings, neighbors, friends.
People who are alive today because a simple CT scan found their cancer early. If every person who qualified under today’s criteria were screened, we could save at least 62,000 lives over 5 years. And the study shows 30,000 more lives could be saved over 5 years among people with a smoking history who don’t even qualify under current USPSTF criteria.
This is an urgent call to action: we need thoughtful but accelerated expansion of lung cancer screening eligibility — and far stronger outreach, access, and policy support to ensure screening reaches everyone who needs it.”
Title: Lung Cancer Screening Saves Lives, but Could Save So Many More
Authors: Alexandra Potter, Lecia Sequist, Chi-Fu Jeffrey Yang
Read the Full Article on JAMA Network
More posts featuring Jeff Yang.