Essay On Lung Cancer

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Recommended: Does smoking cause lung cancer

Lung Cancer Screening With CT
Karyn Terry
Pima Medical Institute
February 12, 2014

Lung Cancer Screening With CT
Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer within the United States with tobacco smoking being the biggest risk factor. In 2012, more than 220,000 people were diagnosed with lung cancer and approximately 150,000 died from the disease. “Lung cancer rates in the United States climbed dramatically throughout much of the 20th century, as smoking became more popular, and peaked in the 1980’s before declining in the 1990’s” (Furlow, 2014, p. 298). Screening of high risk people for lung cancer has been extending patients’ lives with early detection with the use of computed tomography (CT).
Likewise, lung cancer affects people who have never smoked due to the presence of radon and household pollutants. Radon has contributed to 10% of all lung cancer deaths and is considered second to smoking. There is no way to predict who will get cancer, but inherited genetic risk factors make some people more vulnerable to carcinogenic exposures than others. Lung cancer starts whenever there is an uncontrolled growth of abnormal tissue cells that affect the normal function within the lungs. As these abnormal cells grow they form tumors which can block the oxygen exchange within the body. (Lungcancer.org, 2014).
Original screening for lung cancer was done with the use of standard radiographs, but recently computed tomography (CT) is being used because it offers greater sensitivity in detecting pulmonary nodules. “The capability of low-dose spiral CT to visualize lung structure using low doses of radiation has greatly improved in the past two decades because of refinements in detector resolution, microprocessor ...

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...th chest x-ray does not reduce rate of lung cancer deaths. (2011). Health & Medicine Week, 3314. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/901356988?accountid=89121.
Lungcancer.org. (2014). What is lung cancer? Retrieved from http://www.lungcancer.org/find_information/publications/163-lung_cancer_101/265-what_is_lung_cancer.
Ostrow, N. (2011). Screening for lung cancer with chest x-ray doesn’t cut deaths, study finds. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-26/screening-for-lung-cancer-with-chest-x-rays-doesn-t-cut-deaths.html.
Pyenson, B. S., Sander, M. S., Jiang, Y., Kahn, H., & Mulshine, J. L. (2012). An actuarial analysis shows that offering lung cancer screening as an insurance benefit would save lives at relatively low cost. Health Affairs, 31(4), 770-9. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1009893765?accountid=89121.

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