Health Tip of the Week, sponsored by Baton Rouge General: Lung cancer screening can save lives

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Each year, more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. But if lung cancer is caught early, the likelihood of surviving 5 years or more improves to 59 percent. Screening is important because symptoms usually don’t appear until the disease is well advanced. If you’re between the ages of 55 and 77 with a significant smoking history (having smoked one pack of cigarettes a day for 30 or more years) and including those who have quit smoking within the past 15 years, you are eligible to be screened. Speak with your doctor about having an annual low-dose CT scan, which can recognize lung nodules long before you show symptoms.

Learn more about our Lung Cancer Screening Program