Tell me about it. 
Posted on 09/19/2002 7:15:48 AM PDT by SheLion
Fifty Thousand Current and Former Smokers Needed For National Lung Screening Trial
Wednesday September 18, 1:00 pm ET
BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Cancer Institute (NCI) today launched a new study to determine if screening people with either spiral computerized tomography (CT) or chest X-ray before they have symptoms can reduce deaths from lung cancer. The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) will enroll 50,000 current or former smokers and will take place at a total of 30 sites throughout the United States.
To carry out the trial, NCI is using two research networks funded by the Institute: one network has been conducting the lung screening study called the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial, and the other is the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN), a network of researchers who conduct imaging studies. In addition, NCI is collaborating with the American Cancer Society to organize grassroots recruitment efforts at NLST sites.
"NLST is important because there an estimated 90 million current and former smokers in the United States at high risk for lung cancer, and death rates for this disease, unlike many other cancers, have not declined," said NLST co-director John Gohagan, Ph.D., of NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention. "Lung cancer kills more people than cancers of the breast, prostate, colon, and pancreas combined and will claim nearly 155,000 lives this year. Our hope is that this study will lead to saving lives."
To help ensure that NLST reaches full enrollment quickly, the American Cancer Society will support NCI with targeted promotional and outreach efforts in communities surrounding the trial sites.
"Reducing lung cancer deaths is a high priority of the American Cancer Society," said Harmon Eyre, M.D., chief medical officer and executive vice president for research and cancer control of the American Cancer Society. "With a recognized commitment to saving lives from cancer, and a trusted local presence near each of the NLST sites, the Society is uniquely positioned to communicate the benefits of the trial, build trust in eligible participants, and help NCI reach full enrollment as soon as possible."
The trial is a randomized, controlled study -- the "gold standard" of research studies. Study participants will be randomly assigned -- designated by chance -- to receive either a chest X-ray or a spiral CT once a year for three years. Researchers will continue to contact participants annually to monitor their health until 2009.
When detected, lung cancer has usually spread outside the lung in 15 percent to 30 percent of cases. Spiral CT can pick up tumors well under 1 centimeter (cm) in size, while chest X-rays detect tumors about 1 to 2 cm in size.
"Conventional wisdom suggests that the smaller the tumor when it is found, the more likely the chance of survival -- but that remains to be proven," said ACRIN researcher and NLST co-director Denise Aberle, M.D., from the University of California Los Angeles. "Because of the number of individuals participating and because it is a randomized, controlled trial, NLST will be able to provide the evidence needed to determine whether spiral CT scans are better than chest X-rays at reducing a person's chances of dying from lung cancer."
Spiral CT, a technology introduced in the 1990s, uses X-rays to scan the entire chest in about 15 to 25 seconds, during a single breath hold. A computer creates images from the scan, assembling them into a 3-dimensional model of the lungs. More than half of the hospitals in the United States own a spiral CT machine and routinely use them for staging lung and other cancers -- that is, determining how advanced the cancer is after diagnosis. Recently some hospitals have begun performing spiral CT scans as a new way to find early lung cancer in smokers and former smokers. However, no scientific evidence to date has shown that screening or early detection of lung cancer with either spiral CT or chest X-rays actually saves lives.
In addition to the lung cancer screenings, some NLST centers will collect blood, urine, and sputum. These samples will be used for future research to test for biomarkers that may someday help doctors better diagnose lung cancer.
Participants in NLST will receive lung cancer screenings free of charge. Men and women can participate in NLST if they meet the following requirements:
* Are current or former smokers ages 55 to 74
* Have never had lung cancer and have not had any cancer within the
last five years (except some skin cancers or in situ cancers)
* Are not currently enrolled in any other cancer screening or cancer
prevention trial
* Have not had a CT scan of the chest or lungs within the last 18
months.
Additionally, participants can receive referrals to smoking cessation programs if they are interested in quitting smoking.
For more information about NLST and to find the center nearest you:
* Call the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service
toll-free, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at
1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) for information in English or
Spanish. The number for callers with TTY equipment is
1-800-332-8615.
* Log on to cancer.gov/NLST.
Additional materials related to NLST include:
National Lung Screening Trial Questions and Answers at http://newscenter.cancer.gov/pressreleases/NLSTQA.html
An interview with NLST scientists, a video news release on the launch of the trial, photos, stills, audio clips, and other materials related to NLST at http://newscenter.cancer.gov/BenchMarks/
The National Cancer Institute is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
For more information about cancer, visit NCI's Web site at http://cancer.gov .
Source: National Cancer Institute
Tell me about it.
Interesting discussion.
I smoked longer than some people on this thread have been alive (32 years) and quit 13 years ago by tapering off over a week. I had some cravings for cigarettes - for about a week. They lessened considerably and left entirely after about six months. It was never a problem denying the mild cravings, anyway, as I would just say 'no' mentally and it was past.
I quit for a number of reasons, including my health (never had a problem or a cough and wasn't going to wait for it to start), my young son's worries about my smoking (his mom didn't smoke - just me) and the cost was annoying (and this was in 1989!). After quitting, food didn't taste any different except that sharp, intense flavors became a bit more noticable. Smell didn't change much either but I could detect cigarette smoke easier and more so now. (I hate it). I have to say that I never 'long' for a cigarette and haven't since late 1989. No loss.
I think it's mostly a mental game to quit successfully, as I did. If you truly wish to stop smoking and don't see it as a sacrifice but as a free choice (no one told me to quit and I didn't tell my family I was quitting until I did - a week later) you can do it because you want to stop smoking, not that you 'have' to stop. I didn't 'have' to but I decided to stop - on my own - with no one pushing me or even expecting me to quit. I just did.
Never regretted it BUT, I do have sympathy for smokers who are demonized and made to feel like outcasts over smoking a cigarette. The cost is obscene, too. I don't allow smoking in my home or cars but I have no problem with friends that smoke (a few do) and do so outside. They don't mind, either as I never lecture or say anything at all about smoking as it's their choice, not mine, to make.
Jim, we don't want the whole world. Just some of it. The anti's don't want us to have ANY of it. But, that's too bad, because we aren't going anywhere.
We are just fighting for the personal property rights of business owners. If this right is lost, the rest will soon follow. Then no one wins.
That's and INFORMED Dr! :) I like that. I went to a D.O. from childhood until he passed away about 10 yrs ago. He was great with trying the least intrusive remedies for your common ailments. I learned alot from him.
When I first became a nurse, I was so disillusioned by what I saw in the hospital settings. We'd have the "drug of the week" joke..... seeing all the patients with a particular IV drug or whatever. The Docs would get free trips, camping/hunting gear and other little perks from the drug companies, for using a particular med. Thank goodness they stopped that....but the mentality remains.
Do you know what? We do not frequent places with the likes of you. Everyone who hangs out where we do, are of like minds. We blow smoke in NO one's face.
Where I work, smokers are treated like sub-humans and forced outside if they want to smoke. And when I go walking by a smoker standing outside surrounded by clouds of fragrant smoke, I breathe deep. Not everyone hates cigarette smoke! I just can't stand those people trying to control OTHER people's lives!
Uh... didn't you hear... if you quit smoking, you won't die. I've been hearing that for years. Still waiting to see if I'm immortal now, though.
It's absolutely horrible. Delaware goes completely smoke free the 26th of November. Think of NASCAR at Dover and all those Casinos....
Mayor BloomingIdiot of New York City is trying to ban smoking everywhere there. They vote soon.
California is anti smoking just about everywhere. The PA Governor wants to go after the smokers who buy off of the Internet. Florida is also voting in November to go completely smoke free.
I just can't understand it. They raise the taxes through the roof to "balance state budgets," which just penalizes one group of people. Then, the state governments are upset because smokers are shopping cheap, which is the American Way.
The states aren't realizing the huge windfall from the taxes. Now they are screaming. What did they expect? We are free people! We do what we can to counteract their stupid bigotry.
And I just hope and pray that people wake up and come Election time, remember who is the anti wanting votes. This anti will go after something else next, mark my words. No one is safe from the anti's! No one. Now the war on obesity has started.
Oh sure. They toot their horn that if you don't smoke you will live forever. Excuse me!
I forget his name, but some 52-year-old ANTI smoker died this past week of LUNG cancer. Go figure. He never smoked. He faught against allowing smoking, now he is dead at 52 from lung cancer. See? When our number is up, it won't matter jack chit if we smoked or not.
And thanks for posting! It's refreshing to have a non-smoker in here that is still happy with us! And believe me, there is a HUGE difference between a NON smoker and an ANTI smoker!!
Oh? Mickey Mantle, David Crosby, Larry Hagman...
I'm well aware of that! There is nothing that makes me turn the channel quicker than one of those "Truth" anti-smoker commercials... full of lies and half-truths, and extremely offensive. (Should I also mention that I'm not so fond of those anti-drug ads, either?)
Not to mention that the smokers pay for this personal abuse with the taxes they pay on cigarettes through the Tobacco Settlement Money. They are taking that money and using it against us. Bans, restrictions, control and for these "pet programs" to put on trashy hate ads against the smokers. It's sick!
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