Television personality Larry King was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017. "They said I was lucky and smart to get annual X-rays because lung cancer doesn't give you any signs until it's in the late stages," he told People magazine. At that point, King, a former smoker, knew that his three-pack-a-day habit from years ago put him in the higher risk zone.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. While any adult can develop it - even adults who are physically active and never smoked a cigarette in their life - certain people are at higher risk for the disease. The problem is that seven of eight adults who meet the screening criteria for lung cancer don't actually get checked out, making themselves potential victims of this often aggressive disease.
If you're 55 to 80 with a history of smoking or you're any age and a former heavy smoker or current smoker, it's important to ask your doctor about routine lung cancer screenings, especially if you have at least a 30 pack-year smoking history. (This is the number of years you smoked multiplied by the number of packs of cigarettes per day. That could be two packs per day for 15 years or one pack per day for 30 years.).
Screening with low-dose CT scans (generally covered by insurance) can detect early-stage lung cancer before you have any symptoms, and recent research suggests that it can lower lung cancer mortality by at least 20%.
Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of "The Dr. Oz Show," and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into "The Dr. Oz Show" or visit sharecare.com.
(c)2020 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.
King Features Syndicate