Sunrise Hospital offers new lung cancer screenings

Sunrise Hospital is offering a new screening that officials say promotes the early detection of lung cancer and increases the chances for long-term survival of people at high risk contracting the disease.

Current or heavy smokers who were screened with low-dose spiral computed tomography scanning had a 20 percent reduction in deaths from lung cancer than did those who were screened by chest X-ray, according to results from a decade-long National Lung Screening Trial that involved more than 53,000 people. The study was conducted in people at high risk of developing lung cancer to compare the differences in death rates between smokers age 55 to 74 who were screened annually. Results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death for men and women, with approximately 222,000 new cases diagnosed in the U.S. each year, according to the American Cancer Society.

More information on the spiral CT screening at Sunrise Hospital can be found at www.sunriselungcancer.com or by calling 836-5864.