A new report reveals Louisiana is among the worst in the nation for diagnosing lung cancer early. Eric Weinzettle, the director of advocacy for the American Lung Association, says their report finds that Louisiana is ranked 40th for new lung cancer cases and 45th for cases diagnosed at an early stage.
“Once you catch it early, you can have much less invasive treatments, like you can even have surgical. You don’t have to get into chemotherapy or any pharmacological treatment for it. You can actually treat it with surgery. But, to do that, you have to catch it early,” Weinzettle explained.
Weinzettle says the No. 1 cause of lung cancer is smoking, and Louisiana has the fifth-highest smoking rate in the country at almost 16% of adults.
In Louisiana, 25% of lung cancer cases are treated early, while nationally it’s 28%. He says CT scans of high-risk individuals are one way to catch this disease earlier, and biomarker testing can help doctors decide on different treatment options, possibly avoiding chemotherapy.
“Gone are the days is we just have to do chemotherapy, because that is brutal in its own right. We compare it to a bomb dropping versus a precision strike when it comes to biomarker testing,” Weinzettle said.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Louisiana and across the United States.
