[MUSIC PLAYING] AIMEE STRONG: Hello. I'm Aimee Strong, and today I want to talk about lung cancer screening. Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women, and each year more people die of lung cancer than colon, breast, and prostate cancer combined. 

We don't think that the just one thing causes cancer. It's more likely it's a combination of risk factors and exposures over time. Some of these risk factors include smoking tobacco. About 80% of lung cancers are thought to be related to smoking. 

Other things, such as exposure to secondhand smoke, radon, asbestos, diesel exhaust, and certain chemicals may increase a person's risk, and about 15% to 20% of people who get lung cancer were never smokers. So the bottom line is if you have lungs, you can get lung cancer. 

Even though lung cancer's a difficult disease, the number of deaths are slowly declining-- partly because people are quitting smoking, but also because of recent advances in treatment and early detection. When lung cancer is caught early, the cure rate can be as high as 80% to 90%. So how do we find lung cancer early? Similar to mammograms for breast cancer screening and colonoscopies for colon cancer screening, we now now CT scans of the chest for lung cancer screening. 

Lung cancer screenings for people ages 55 to 77 who currently smoke or have recently quit in the last 15 years and have smoked a long time before that-- maybe about a pack a day, on average, for about 30 years or more. People should also be overall healthy enough to have treatment if a cancer's found. And most people don't know that Medicare, Virginia Medicaid, and most private insurance companies cover lung cancer screening yearly with no out-of-pocket cost if you meet the screening criteria. 

So a CT for lung cancer screening is really easy. There's no needles. There are no dyes or contrast. The CT machine is like a big donut. You lay on the table, and it moves through the donut and back out, and just a few seconds later, the scan is done. Most people don't even have to take off their shirt. 

You can eat and drink like normal before the CT. Some people are nervous about getting screened, because they're afraid that we might find something, or they feel like they did this to themselves because of smoking, but at UVA, our job is to take excellent care of you, and to help you feel comfortable at every step of the screening process. If you still smoke, we can help you quit, cut down, or just mentally get ready to do it. 

Lung cancer screening is one CT of the chest every year for as long as you're eligible. And some people may be nervous to come in and get their screenings this year because of COVID, but unfortunately, cancer doesn't wait for COVID-19. At UVA, we're taking every precaution to make your visit for your lung cancer screening as safe as possible. If you're interested in learning about lung cancer screening, you can talk to your health care provider to see if you're eligible, or you can visit our website at uvahealth.com/lungcancerscreening.