Detecting Lung Cancer Early - the Deadliest Cancer is Often Missed : Shared by John Gilmartin

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A new study reveals that current lung cancer screening guidelines may be missing most cases, prompting calls for changes to detect the disease earlier.   John
https://wapo.st/48n94HE  

Why screening for the deadliest cancer in the U.S. misses most cases

Allyson Chiu

The Washington Post

November 24, 2025

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Summary

Current lung cancer screening guidelines exclude most patients who develop the disease, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open. The research found that only one-third of approximately 1,000 lung cancer patients treated at Northwestern Medicine met the current screening criteria, which limits eligibility to people aged 50-80 with heavy smoking histories. 

Women, minorities, and people who never smoked were disproportionately excluded. 

The study estimates that if screening were expanded to anyone aged 40-85, nearly 94 percent of lung cancer cases could be detected, potentially preventing about 26,000 deaths annually if just 30 percent of people got screened. 

Researchers also calculated that age-based screening could save nearly $25 billion annually in treatment costs. Lung cancer kills more Americans than breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined. When detected early through screening, lung cancer cure rates exceed 90 percent. 

However, current screening rates among eligible people remain low, ranging from 9 to 30 percent according to state-level data. The growing number of lung cancer cases in nonsmokers and people who quit smoking more than 15 years ago is prompting experts to call for changes to screening guidelines.

Quotes

"A majority of the lung cancer patients in this country would not meet the screening criteria as it exists currently. If we have a more broader screening program, similar to breast and colon, then we would be able to detect substantially more patients at earlier stage." - Ankit Bharat, study's lead author and executive director of the Canning Thoracic Institute at Northwestern Medicine

"Lung cancer is the biggest cause of cancer deaths in this country. It kills more people than breast, colon and prostate put together." - Ankit Bharat

"If I had come in presenting a totally different phenotype of like a heavy drinker and heavy smoker, I would have been screened. It would have been a different result. We have such stereotypes about what lung cancer looks like." - Jessie Creel, Stage 4 lung cancer patient diagnosed at age 42

"When lung cancers are detected early through lung cancer screening, they are highly curable. In all the studies, we see cure rates above 90 percent." - John Heymach, chair of thoracic/head and neck medical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center

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