Ben Lutman was a daily smoker. “I smoked for probably 25 years on and off.”
Cigarette smoking is the number one risk factor for lung cancer- which is one of the deadliest cancers, especially since it doesn’t show symptoms early on. He decided to get screened for it after his brother was diagnosed with lung cancer. “You know what, let's see what it is, if I can preempt it, and if we can find it early enough, if there is an issue. If not, then I'm clear and don't have to worry about it at all,” said Lutman.
Current or former smokers aged 50 to 77, with at least a 20-pack year history, who don’t have symptoms of lung cancer are eligible for the screening. The goal is early detection. “The patients in lung cancer screening who get a diagnosis of lung cancer in screening about 70% of the time it’s early stage and out of those patients the cure rate is about 80%,” said Nurse Practitioner Bobbi Marino.
The screening consists of education and then a low dose CT scan. “It was super easy, the whole process took about 10 minutes,” said Lutman. “The good part about that, it also scans some of your other organs while they're doing the CT, and it did show some other issues that I could talk to my doctor about and see if there's anything we need to do….This gives me a peace of mind to know that I have more time with my family, with my wife, with my daughter, and I don't have to worry about it.”
The annual screening is covered by private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. You can learn more by searching for lung cancer screening on leehealth.org. Saving lives through screening.
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Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.
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