Lung Cancer Detected Early Through Clinical Trial
As a nurse of 32 years, Colleen Householder knows the value of early detection—especially when it comes to lung cancer.
So when she heard UC was conducting a clinical trial looking at computed tomography (CT) as a potential screening tool for lung cancer, she immediately signed up to participate. Householder, now 66, had smoked for upward of 40 years and knew she was at risk.
Householder—along with about 130 other heavy smokers over 50 who had smoked at least 20 packs of cigarettes per year—participated in the trial. Participants completed a questionnaire about their smoking habits and medical history, then underwent annual low-dose CT scan for five years to screen for signs of lung cancer. The goal of the study was to determine if lung cancer screening could be done effectively among a high-risk population living in a geographic area with rates of histoplasmosis three times higher than the national average.
She received her cancer diagnosis in 2005, followed immediately by surgery to remove the tumor and a course of chemotherapy to eradicate residual cancer cells.
“I owe my life to participating in that clinical trial,” Householder says. “The doctors found my lung cancer very early on a CT scan. I don’t think I would have been diagnosed in a treatable stage if I hadn’t been screened.”
Now she is retired, enjoying being a Florida snowbird and cruising the hillsides of Kentucky by motorcycle with her husband. She’s also an active American Cancer Society volunteer, driving patients to and from medical appointments.
UC Health’s multidisciplinary thoracic cancer team—made up of pulmonologists, radiologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, gastroenterologists, respiratory therapists, experienced oncology nurses and fellowship-trained surgeons—specializes in treating the entire range of cancers affecting the chest cavity. UC Health’s thoracic surgery team is the only one in the Tristate offering rib-sparing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS ) procedures. The technique requires only a few small incisions in the abdomen and chest to insert the minimally invasive tools used to operate.
To read more about UC's CT screening trial for smokers, visit healthnews.uc.edu.