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Lung Cancer Early Detection Program

Smoking is the number one preventable risk factor in the top 10 causes of death. There are currently 50 million smokers in the U.S. Approximately one half of these smokers will die prematurely and one half of these deaths will occur in the middle age group of 35 to 69 years.

Lung Cancer automatically comes to mind when we associate smoking to health-related illness. However, only 25 percent of smokers get lung cancer, while 82 percent will have chronic obstructive lung disease, 21 percent coronary heart disease, and 18 percent can look forward to stroke.

The reason we focus so strongly on lung cancer is because 169,000 new cases every year are diagnosed. In Nevada, 67 percent of the lung cancer is found in Clark County. Nationally the lung cancer death rate has surpassed the death rate of breast cancer in women.

Currently it is very difficult to diagnose lung cancer in the early stages when treatment would be most optimal. Detecting lung cancer in the early stages increases the five-year survival rate to 49 percent. The statistics show that only 15 percent of lung cancer is discovered that early. Before lung cancer is detected, it has been in the lungs between eight to 15 years. Research tells us that 90 percent of all lung cancers are smoking related, meaning they are preventable.

UMC and the University of Nevada School of Medicine have opened the first Lung Cancer Early Detection and Tobacco Use Cessation Program in the Southwest region of the United States. Dr. Elizabeth Fildes, assistant professor of family medicine and addiction counselor specializing in nicotine dependence, offers a program that is individually developed to those wishing help.

Working very closely with Dr. Fildes are Dr. J. Francis Turner FACP, FCCP Associated Professor of Medicine Chief, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Sandra Harvey B.S, RN, RRT. Dr. Turner has received an additional fellowship year in interventional pulmonology and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Association for Bronchology. Ms. Harvey has been specially trained in interventional techniques and currently is the Chair of the Affiliates Forum in the American Association for Bronchology.

The Cancer Center of Excellence at UMC offers a unique system used in the early detection and localization of lung cancer. Dr. Turner uses LIFE (Light Induced Fluorescence Endoscopy) bronchoscopy at UMC, the only hospital in Nevada to have this unit. LIFE uses special blue light instead of using white light to look at tissue in the lungs. The LIFE bronchoscopy procedure captures the difference in the fluorescence signals between normal and abnormal tissue. Used in conjunction with the traditional white-light bronchoscopy, the LIFE system enhances a physician's ability to provide early detection of lung cancer.

Individuals must meet preliminary screening criteria to become candidates for LIFE bronchoscopy. LIFE bronchoscopy is covered by most insurance companies for individuals who meet these criteria:

• Individuals with known or previously diagnosed lung cancer.
  
• Individuals with suspected lung cancer, including:
  
  • Patients who previously have been treated for lung cancer and are risk for recurrence
    
  • Patients who are about to be treated for lung cancer, as a means to ensure all cancerous areas are located and addressed prior to treatment
    
  • Patients at high risk or suspected of having lung cancer based on assessment and referral from the primary care physician
    
  
  Anyone over age 40 who has one or more of the following characteristics is encouraged to talk with your primary care physician:
  
  
  • Productive cough
    
  • Chest pain
    
  • Shortness of breath
    
  • Currently smokes or has a history of smoking
    
  • Exposure to second-hand smoke or workplace air pollutants
    
  • Existing chronic lung disease, recurring pneumonia
    
  • Family history of lung cancer
  
  
  For more information about the Lung Cancer Early Detection and Tobacco Use Cessation program, please call either 702-671-5092 or the Helpline at 702-877-0684. To access the Helpline outside the State of Nevada, please call 1-888-866-6642.