MUSC Health Florence Announces Lung Cancer Screening Program

By Whitney Johnson, AGACNP-BC

MUSC Health Florence Medical Center is excited to announce the introduction of our Lung Cancer Screening Program. Lung cancer is the second most common cancer and the primary cause of cancer-related death in men and women in the United States. Unfortunately, lung cancer symptoms are often masked or overlooked until the cancer is advanced and much harder to treat successfully. The MUSC Health Lung Cancer Screening Program, in partnership with MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, has proven to be an excellent public health initiative. Health care providers have seen great success in the MUSC Health Charleston and Lancaster Divisions. Now, the program is being offered at the MUSC Health Florence Medical Center for patients in the Pee Dee region to include Florence, Marion, and other communities.

This lung cancer screening program offers low-dose spiral computed tomography (LDCT) for high-risk adults. The National Lung Screening Trial has shown these screening scans to decrease a patient’s risk of dying from lung cancer by detecting the disease earlier than current screening methods.

Any patient with the following risk factors is a good candidate for our Lung Cancer Screening Program:

• Patients ages 50- 77
• Have a 20 pack-year smoking history (1 pack per day for 20 years) or more and
• Currently a smoker or quit within the last 15 years

The Program’s approach to treatment incorporates a multidisciplinary team that will track high-risk and pulmonary nodule patient’s disease state. Once a patient has undergone a CT scan, our team will guide them through the steps of care and intervention. Along with our screening scans, we provide smoking cessation counseling for all current smokers and work alongside the Tobacco Cessation Program to help patients at all stages of their smoking cessation journey.

Providers who wish to refer at-risk patients for the Lung Cancer Screening Program call MUSC Health - Pulmonology at 843-673-7529 or fax a referral to 843-673-7532. Our team will be happy to review your at-risk patients and provide the care needed to prevent and detect lung cancer.