When it comes to a cancer diagnosis, early detection is the key. Lung cancer is the second most common cancer for both men and women, which can be detected with a low dose CT, says OSF HealthCare Holy Family Diabetes Education Coordinator Tina Canada:
“You can qualify for a low dose CT lung cancer screening if you are 55 to 80 years old and if you have been a smoker, smoked an equivalent of at least one pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years or two packs a day for 15 years, or are currently a smoker, quit within the last 15 years, or have additional risk factors beyond smoking and secondhand smoke like previous radiation therapy puts you more at risk for lung cancer or have been exposed to radon, asbestos, or some other cancer causing agent, or if you have a family history of any type of cancer. Of course for most of us the older you are, the more likely you are to get something because if you have not had it in the past, you are just more likely to get that as you age.”
Screenings can be scheduled online at osfhealthcare.org/get-screened or by calling 734-1414.
