{
  "id": 652024,
  "title": "Years After He Quit Smoking, a Lung Cancer Scan Saved His Life",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/12/years-after-he-quit-smoking-a-lung-cancer-scan-saved-his-life",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-12T09:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "KFF Health News",
    "slug": "kff-health-news",
    "url": "https://kffhealthnews.org/aging/new-old-age-lung-cancer-screening-rates-smoking-survival/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Dennis Schmidt, a 75-year-old registered nurse at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, started smoking as a teenager and continued for nearly 40 years. Despite his knowledge of the dangers of smoking, he was unaware that lung cancer screening was available for current and former smokers. In 2021, his primary care doctor encouraged him to undergo a CT scan, which revealed adenocarcinoma, a form of lung cancer.\n\nDespite significant declines in smoking rates, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, with an estimated 125,000 deaths in 2024. However, only about a quarter of eligible patients were up to date on the recommended annual scans. Older adults, particularly those over 65, were more likely to be up to date, but even they represented only about a third of screened patients.\n\nScreening has been shown to save lives, as demonstrated by a landmark clinical trial in 2011 that found annual low-dose CT scans reduced lung cancer deaths by 20% compared to chest X-rays. However, determining eligibility for screening can be complicated, with the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommending screening for those aged 50-80 with a 20 pack-year smoking history who currently smoke or stopped within the past 15 years. This has led to challenges for both patients and doctors in assessing eligibility.\n\nAdditionally, the stigma attached to smoking may discourage patients from disclosing their tobacco use, further reducing screening rates. Despite these challenges, advances in treating lung cancer have made a diagnosis less of a death sentence, with survival rates improving for those diagnosed in the earliest stages. Some doctors and organizations are calling for changes in the Preventive Services Task Force recommendations to make screening more accessible, such as removing the 15-year and pack-year requirements.",
  "summary": "Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, and older adults are at higher risk. But only about a quarter of patients eligible for screening are up to date.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}