A mobile platform for lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) can be developed with limited financial risk and take powerful screening tests directly to patients, including underserved rural areas where rates of new lung cancer cases tend to be higher, according to study published today in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
A mobile platform for lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) can be developed with limited financial risk and take powerful screening tests directly to patients, including underserved rural areas where rates of new lung cancer cases tend to be higher, according to study published today in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
“This study shows that if you bring it, they will come,” said Rob Headrick, MD, MBA, from CHI Memorial Chest and Lung Cancer Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “People across the country have not been traveling to medical centers to get scans that they don’t know they need. Every 3 minutes, someone in the US dies of lung cancer. We believed that if we took the technology to the people, especially those most at risk, it would be an important educational experience and lives would be saved.”
Dr. Headrick and colleagues assembled a team with the ambitious task of designing and building a unique lung screening program that included a built-from-scratch bus featuring independent power, climate control, patient comfort, a portable CT scanner, and drivability. The project became known as “Breathe Easy” because it embodied the goal of reassuring many lung cancer patients through education, caring attention, hope, and pictures of their chests, helping them to “breathe easier,” explained Dr. Headrick.
The bus began operations in early 2018. Researchers examined data from the 10 months that the bus was available that year. During that time, the Breathe Easy bus traveled to 104 sites and screened 548 patients. For these patients, the mean age was 62 years old with a mean smoking pack years of 41. Significant pulmonary findings were seen in 51 patients (9%). Five lung cancers were identified; four of them (80%) were early stage. In addition, non-pulmonary results also were found in 152 (28%) of the individuals screened, with the most common being moderate to severe coronary artery disease in 101 (66%) patients.
Read more at The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Image: Breathe Easy Bus from CHI Memorial in Chattanooga, TN (Credit: CHI Memorial in Chattanooga, TN)
