Health

16 HEALTH • Spring 2016 "They were very optimistic because it was really caught early, before I had any symptoms," he said. The medical personnel ordered more tests and put him into chemotherapy and radiation therapy. "By November, when I finished up and did more scans, there was no sign of the cancer at all," Checkosky said. Lung cancer has long been a particularly terrify- ing diagnosis. Out of every 100 people who were found to have the disease between 2005 and 2011, only 17 percent were alive five years later, according to the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER). It's the second most common cancer in the U.S., with 221,200 estimated new cases in 2015 – com- pared with 231,840 for breast cancer – but it's by far the biggest killer. About 158,040 people died from the disease last year, more than three times as many as for the second deadliest type: colon and rectum cancer. Those numbers could change, thanks to the new screening that Checkosky received at Harrington. "Up until now, most [lung] cancers were found at a later stage, where the statistics were really against you," said Dr. Max Rosen, chairman of the Radiology Department at UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center. "To show somebody that 'You have a small nodule, it needs to be biopsied, could be curative,' it's a very different conversation." The new weapon In results published in 2012, the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial found that a low-dose CT scan could find cancer in the lungs of people who had smoked for many years when it was at an early, poten- tially treatable stage. In fact, Rosen said, the research- ers stopped the study early after results showed a 20 percent reduction in the lung cancer death rate for people who got the scan. Some private insurers Early detection screening decreasing lung cancer deaths \\ By Livia Gershon L ast spring Bob Checkosky, a 72-year-old retired chemist in Southbridge, read in the newspaper about a new screening for lung cancer. Then, he saw a billboard put up by Harrington Hospital advertising the same thing. He'd already tried to quit his lifelong smoking habit a few years back, and he was trying again. Even though he wasn't all that worried about lung cancer, it seemed like a good idea to get checked out. "I thought 'Well, I've smoked all my life, and at my age it certainly can't hurt to do it,'" Checkosky said. He went into the hospital for the scan and got the results the next day. The doctors found something. A NEW WEAPON TO FIGHT THE DEADLIEST CANCER FIVE-YEAR LUNG CANCER SURVIVAL RATE Source: National Cancer Institute: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) 0 5% 10% 15% 20% Five-year survival rate 11.4% 18.2% '75 '80 '85 '90 '95 '99 '03 '07 quickly began covering the scan, and in February 2015, Medicare and Medicaid followed suit. The screening is now generally covered for any- one between ages 55 and 77 who either still smokes or quit within the past 15 years, and who smoked for a total of at least 30 "pack-years" – for example, a pack a day for 30 years, or two packs a day for 15 years. People who get the scan should go through smoking cessation counseling if they still smoke and be prepared to go through surgery or other treatment if it turns out to be necessary. Even for smokers who aren't found to have a growth that looks like cancer, the process can be eye- opening, Rosen said. He has gone through the CT scans with patients, showing them areas of emphy- sema or nodules that he wants to keep an eye on. "It's very powerful for people to see their lungs

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