Woodland Heights Medical Center is now offering low dose CT scan lung cancer screening, the first and only cost-effective test proven to significantly reduce lung cancer deaths. More than 220,000 people in the U.S. alone will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year and nearly 160,000 people will die from the disease – more than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined. This proven test, and the access to it that Medicare coverage allows, is a game changer in the battle against lung cancer.

“Roughly 90 percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer will die from the disease, typically because their cancer has progressed to an advanced stage by the time it’s discovered,” states Rebecca Morgan, Director of Radiology Services at Woodland Heights.  “However, it doesn’t have to be that way because Low Radiation Dose CT lung cancer screening has the potential to change that outcome for smokers, who are at higher risk for developing lung cancer.”

Medicare (and most insurances) will now cover lung cancer screening with LDCT once per year for Medicare beneficiaries who meet all of the following criteria:

• they are age 55-77, and are either current smokers or have quit smoking within the last 15 years
• they have a tobacco smoking history of at least 30 “pack years” (an average of one pack a day for 30 years)
• they receive a written order from a physician that meets certain requirements

“Woodland Heights is the first in this area to utilize CAD (Computer Aided Detection) for CT Lung screenings” states Morgan.  “We are happy to bring this crucial diagnostic screening to Lufkin.”