A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Vatican said this morning that Pope Leo will not go on a trip to central Italy next week as he recovers from lung cancer surgery. The pope was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma. It's the most common form of lung cancer, especially among nonsmokers, like the pope. Cases are rising, but people who have not smoked usually are not eligible for screenings. Some experts want a change. Here's NPR's Yuki Noguchi.
YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: Overall rates of lung cancer have dropped with smoking rates. Still, it's the most lethal form of the disease, with 125,000 Americans dying from it annually. But under current U.S. guidelines, only people who smoke or have smoked are eligible for annual screening in the form of a low-dose CT scan. Nadia Litterman says this is a problem, given rising rates of lung cancer among nonsmokers.
NADIA LITTERMAN: That leaves out roughly half of the people who are diagnosed with lung cancer are not eligible for screening.
NOGUCHI: Because people with family history or environmental chemical exposures can also be at high risk. Litterman directs the Susan Wojcicki Foundation, a new advocacy group focused on prevention and early detection of lung cancer. Wojcicki, the former CEO of YouTube who died of the disease, never smoked. While smoking dramatically increases risk, Litterman says there are other drivers too, and the misunderstanding that smoking alone causes lung cancer perpetuates stigma. Of the people who are eligible for screening, fewer than 20% do.
LITTERMAN: When people hear lung cancer, the first question is often, did they smoke? And I think we need to kind of change that instinct because anyone with lungs can get lung cancer, and no one deserves it.
NOGUCHI: Bryant Lin is a Stanford medicine professor, longtime advocate for better lung cancer screening and a patient with Stage 4 disease.
BRYANT LIN: The population of nonsmokers is huge. So we can't test everybody, but we have to figure out who's at risk. To me, that's realistic, having different levels of guidelines and different levels of evidence.
NOGUCHI: Lin says doing so in Taiwan has helped reduce lung cancer deaths, and he says, until simpler screenings like blood tests are available, allowing CT scans for nonsmokers with a family history, for example, would help catch disease earlier for more people.
Yuki Noguchi, NPR News.
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