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Originally published December 2, 2024
Last updated December 2, 2024
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Lung cancer is common in both men and women. While it is not as widespread as prostate cancer in men or breast cancer in women, lung cancer is a more aggressive cancer than both. If you or your doctor think you may be at risk for lung cancer, it’s important to get screened.
Keck Medicine of USC thoracic surgeons Graeme Rosenberg, MD, and Anthony W. Kim, MD, of USC Surgery and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, explain the top signs of lung cancer and other facts about lung cancer.
Lung cancer can present in many ways. Many times, there are no symptoms at all. If you do experience symptoms, the most common symptoms are:
All of these could be symptoms of other conditions, so talk to your doctor if you think something might be wrong.
Unfortunately, lung cancer is often a silent disease and isn’t discovered until it is detected in other tests. That’s one of many reasons it’s important to get regular health check-ups with your primary care provider. It’s also a good idea to talk to your doctor if you think you may be at risk of lung cancer.
There isn’t one blanket test for lung cancer like there is for breast, colon or prostate cancer. Your doctor will probably only recommend getting screened for lung cancer if you’re at high risk.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening CT scans of the chest for people who:
You may also want to get screened if you have other risk factors such as:
For most patients, a low-dose chest CT scan won’t discover anything concerning. Even if your screening is negative, however, a doctor is likely to recommend at-risk patients continue getting an annual screening as long as they match the screening criteria — that is, until they are more than 80 years old or have quit smoking more than 15 years ago.
For about 25% of patients, a chest CT scan may turn up something concerning. Not every concern will turn out to be a cancer, but it’s important to get the most effective and efficient workup. If a lung nodule is detected, it’s crucial to go to a program with a multidisciplinary team that treats lung cancer, where surgeons work hand in hand with medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, imaging experts and even nutritionists to make sure that every patient gets the benefits of a team of cancer experts. You’ll be able to work with your team to decide on the best next steps, whether that’s more imaging, a biopsy, surgery or no further treatment.
A “pack-year” is the equivalent of smoking one pack of cigarettes per day for one year.
A history of 20-pack-years could mean:
The good news is that lung cancer treatments have made leaps and bounds over the last 30 years. When lung cancer is detected early, there’s a lot we can do to help make sure our patients have many happy, healthy years ahead. The key to catching lung cancer early is to get screened according to your doctor’s recommendations, and the key to make sure you’re getting the right treatment for lung cancer is to see a multidisciplinary team like the USC Lung Cancer Program at Keck Medicine.
Advocate for yourself if you think you may be eligible for lung cancer screening. Talk to your doctor about it specifically. When we all work together, we can offer a tremendous amount of hope.
