NYU Langone offers early detection lung cancer screening

NEW YORK – NYU Langone Medical Center is a pioneer in the screening of lung cancer. The center offers comprehensive screening for individuals at risk for lung cancer. Th NYU Langone Lung Cancer Screening Center is distinguished by its multidisciplinary approach and wealth of experience and is under the direction of the Divisions of Pulmonary Medicine, Thoracic Radiology and Thoracic Surgery.

NYU Langone has been and continues to be at the forefront of lung cancer research. NYU Langone radiologists have used computed tomography (CT) scans for lung cancer screening since the 1990s and, in collaboration with Cornell University Medical Center researchers, published the original study on CT screening for detection of early lung cancer in 2000. More recently, a 2011 National Cancer Institute-sponsored study published in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that CT scan screening of heavy smokers can decrease lung cancer mortality by 20 percent compared with chest x-ray.

"Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States for both men and women and research shows that using CT scans to screen the lungs of people at higher risk of lung cancer led to early detection and saved lives. Certain patients, especially current and former smokers, would greatly benefit from this,” said Harvey I. Pass, M.D., Stephen E. Banner Professor of Thoracic Oncology, Departments of Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery, Division of Thoracic Surgery, and a Principle Investigator in the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) of the National Cancer Institute.

NYU Langone has been a part of the National Cancer Institute Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) since 2000. The EDRN includes dozens of institutions to help in the acceleration of the translation of biomarker information into clinical applications and in the evaluation of new ways od testing cancer in its early stages and for cancer risk.

NYU offers participants of its EDRN Lung Cancer Biomarker Center the chance to undergo low-dose CT scan to evaluate for signs of early lung cancer as well as participate in a National Cancer Institute-funded lung cancer early detection study.