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Can lung test predict cancer?
October 9, 1996
Web posted at: 11:30 p.m. EDTNEW YORK (CNN) -- If you knew you had lung cancer, would it make you rethink your next cigarette? Television personality Morton Downey Jr. certainly did when nine weeks ago he learned he had lung cancer.
He has quit smoking and is now the spokesman for a new test called "LungCheck." The private company marketing the test says LungCheck can forecast lung cancer.
"I wish this was around (20 years ago), I'm glad it's around now," Downey said.
By examining fluid from the lungs brought up by coughing, doctors can tell patients whether their lungs are harboring abnormal cells. Although the lab procedure has been around for years, it has never before been used for widespread screening for potential lung cancer patients.
According to the American Cancer Society, less than 15 percent of lung cancer patients live more than five years. Early detection is crucial to increasing the chances of survival.
But one cancer specialist familiar with the procedure said the test isn't foolproof. Dr. William Cahen of the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center says the test could give false negatives, missing abnormalities on the edges of the lungs.
"Cancers have become more peripherally located in the lung, rather than the central portion" where changes show up on microscopic analysis," Cahen said.
Other doctors, including Dr. Jon Eylands, who is working on LungCheck, are concerned that while receiving bad news may prompt smokers to quit, good news may have the opposite effect.
"By saying you are not going to get lung cancer, we are not giving a license to smoke," Eylands stressed.
Neither the American Lung Association, for which Downey is also a spokesman, nor the American Cancer Society have endorsed LungCheck.
The product is being made available through doctors at a cost of $150 per test, which is covered by some insurance plans. Its value may be far greater than the price tag if the test can do what its manufacturers hope it will accomplish: show smokers why they should quit, and then convince them to do so.
From Reporter Christine Negroni
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- Studies: The younger you smoke, the tougher to quit - August 23, 1996
- Patches, gum, boost smokers' chances of quitting - March 17, 1996
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