Advanced CT scan proving to be best tool for early lung cancer detection


Ofelia (Sophie) O’Connor, a 75-year-old mother of four and grandmother of seven, was in top shape when she joined an international research study for early lung cancer detection at the Dorothy E. Schneider Cancer Center last fall.

The Burlingame resident was at the gym five days a week and feeling fine.

“I met the criteria for the study — at least 60 years of age and a history of at least 30 pack-years of smoking cigarettes,” she said. Thirty pack-years means smoking one pack a day for 30 years or any equivalent in which years of smoking multiplied by the number of packs smoked per day equals 30.

Yet, she didn’t think the screening would prove positive.

“I was the picture of health — no weight loss, no fatigue or sleeping problems, none of the symptoms one would associate with cancer.”
When the diagnosis was stage I lung cancer, she was shocked.

“It was a blow to everyone — my doctor, my family and myself.”
According to Barry Sheppard, M.D., the thoracic surgeon leading the study, it is this lack of early symptoms coupled with the absence of a proven screening test that has made lung cancer the leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

“About 75 percent of lung cancers are diagnosed in advanced stages because there is no early warning,” Dr. Sheppard said. “The survival rate for the most advanced stages, III and IV, are 10 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, Stage I tumors found when they are less than 20 millimeters (a fifth of the length of the average cigarette), are likely curable with surgery or a combination of surgery and other therapies, he said. “The survival rate for early stage lung cancers is as high as 80 percent.”

Lack of an effective screening tool is the problem, the surgeon said. “Mammograms have improved early detection of breast cancer, but there is not yet a proven tool for lung cancer.”

Mills-Peninsula was invited to participate in the prestigious International Early Lung Cancer Action Project (I-ELCAP) to help determine whether an advanced CT scanning technology called Low Dose Helical Chest CT will be the answer. Dr. Sheppard is confident that it will.

“Low Dose CT is going to prove to be the long-awaited screening,” the surgeon said. “Meanwhile, it’s great that this study is available now to screen smokers and ex-smokers in our community and potentially save the lives of our neighbors, like Sophie.

“A relatively recent development in CT scanning, Helical Chest CT uses a rotating camera, low-dose radiation and takes less than a minute to obtain,” he said.

“Study participants receive free scans and follow-up for two years.”
“That Mills-Peninsula is the only community cancer center accepted into the study is one more confirmation that we are on the leading edge,” the surgeon said.


Community Donors Fund Lung Cancer Research
The Mills-Peninsula Hospital Foundation is providing 100 percent of the funding, including costs of
screenings, for Mills-Peninsula’s participation in the International Early Lung Cancer Action Project (I-ELCAP) through a major grant from U.S. Surgical Corporation of Norwalk, Connecticut and community donations.

For more information about the Foundation, call (650) 696 5990.

Applications are still being accepted for the study. Participants receive free screenings and follow-up. For more information, call (650) 696 4479