A financial gift to UT Health San Antonio and a collaboration with the NFL and American Cancer Society aims to get more people screened.
SAN ANTONIO — Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. A new gift is helping one San Antonio medical powerhouse raise awareness about their cancer screening program.
The gift is a $30,000 contribution to UT Health San Antonio’s Primary Care Center locations to appoint a lung cancer screening navigator. It is funded by Crucial Catch, a partnership between the National Football League (NFL) and the American Cancer Society.
Dr. Ramon Cancino, a primary care physician with UT Health San Antonio and executive director of the Primary Care Center at UT Health San Antonio told KENS 5, “Our navigator will help patients get lung cancer screenings, help them get connected to folks who can help them quit smoking and if patients need to see another specialist after completing that lung cancer screening, our navigator will support the patient at that point as well.”
The screening program began in January 2022. That year, the screening rate was 18% of eligible primary care patients. Today the rate has increased to 26%, which is well over the national and Texas lung cancer screening rates of 18% and as low as 1% respectively.
“Highlighting the need for our work to increase awareness on the importance of early lung cancer screening,” said Cancino.
The U.S. Preventative Task Force recommends yearly lung cancer screenings for those between the ages of 50 and 80 years old who have smoked for at least 20 pack years. That’s calculated by multiplying how many packs per day they smoked by the number of years they smoked.
Also recommended for a yearly screening: somebody who is a current smoker and meets that criteria. As well as someone who quit smoking within the past 15 years.
So what does the screening entail? A low dose radiation CAT scan looking for nodules in the lung, most of which are harmless.
“Most lung nodules in the lung are harmless, but depending on the size, a physician may ask a patient to repeat a CT scan in about a year to make sure they don’t change or cause problems,” Cancino said.
To learn more about Mays Cancer Center’s specialized cancer care, visit the website here or call 210-450-1000.