World Lung Cancer Day Highlights Critical Gaps in Early Screening as Lung Cancer Remains Deadliest Cancer

World Lung Cancer (search)Search disease Day, observed on August 1, is drawing renewed attention to the persistent burden of lung cancer and the underutilization of potentially life-saving screening tools. Despite steady improvements in survival, lung cancer remains the deadliest cancer in the United States, with nearly 125,000 deaths projected this year alone.

Over the past five years, the lung cancer (search)Search disease survival rate has increased by 26%, yet the disease continues to be the leading cause of cancer deaths among both women and men. "We still have a ways to go to draw the right awareness around this very deadly and morbid disease," said Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, medical spokesperson for the American Lung Association (search)Search term.

Screening Awareness Gap Persists

A new national survey conducted by the American Lung Association (search)Search term reveals a critical knowledge gap: only about one-third of those surveyed were aware that quick, low-dose CT scans are available for people at the highest risk of developing the disease. This underutilization is a growing concern, as catching lung cancer (search)Search disease early significantly raises the odds of survival.

"It's a little challenging to see that it's so underused and so underutilized," Galiatsatos said. Experts note that lung cancer (search)Search disease screening is relatively new, having only been recommended since 2013. The scan does not require an IV or contrast and takes less than a minute to complete. "It probably takes longer to fill out the forms for the lung cancer screening than it does to actually get the test done," Galiatsatos added.

Who Should Be Screened

Dr. Sam Makhoul, medical director of clinical research at CARTI (search)Search term, explained that screening is intended for asymptomatic individuals. "We're talking about people who are asymptomatic," he said. "If you have symptoms, you need a workup now to detect the cancer, which is completely different ball game than screening."

Those considered high risk and eligible for screening include current and former smokers between the ages of 50 and 80 with a 20 pack-year smoking history. Makhoul described pack-years as a straightforward calculation: smoking one pack a day for 20 years equals 20 pack-years, and smoking a half-pack a day for 40 years also equals 20 pack-years. Former heavy smokers who quit within the past 15 years also remain eligible.

The Stark Difference Early Detection Makes

Makhoul emphasized that early detection can dramatically improve outcomes. When lung cancer (search)Search disease is found at stage one, describing it as "smaller than two three centimeters," doctors "will be able to cure about 80/85% of the patients." If the cancer is found at stage two or later, survival drops to "about 20%."

Lung cancer (search)Search disease is often diagnosed late because symptoms may not appear until the disease is advanced. Makhoul explained that the lungs are large and have "no really sensory feeling," allowing tumors to grow until they affect blood vessels, airways or the chest wall, or spread to other organs such as "the bones, the brain, and the liver."

Tobacco's Role and the Impact of Quitting

Tobacco use remains the dominant risk factor. "It is estimated that 80 to 90 percent of all lung cancers are related to tobacco smoking, and the evidence for that is clear," Makhoul said. He pointed to decades of public health data showing that when tobacco consumption declined after the U.S. surgeon general identified tobacco as a cancer risk factor in 1964, lung cancer (search)Search disease mortality also declined, though with "about 15 to 20 year lag between the two."

For longtime smokers, quitting still matters. "No, it is really not too late to quit," Makhoul said, noting that quitting leads to a "slight decrease of risk," though it does not return to the baseline risk of someone who has never smoked. Elevated risk can persist for 15 to 20 years after quitting.

Stigma and the Never-Smoker Population

Smoking stigma remains a barrier to screening uptake. "We have a good deal of patients who are very not forthcoming to their doctors to say that they actively still smoke, because they don't want to be judged or shamed," Galiatsatos said.

While lung cancer (search)Search disease screening is currently only recommended for current or former smokers, experts note that more people who have never smoked are being diagnosed with the disease. They recommend talking to a doctor about individual risk factors, including family history of lung cancer or prior radiation therapy for other cancers.