From the 2023 HVPA National Conference
Houda Bouhmam MD (Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital), Rebecca Scalabrino MD (Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School), Levi Sokol MD, Judith Amorosa MD
Lung cancer continues to be the most common cause of cancer related mortality in the United States, accounting for more annual deaths than breast, prostate, and colon cancer combined. Many studies have demonstrated that appropriate implementation of low dose CT (LDCT) screening has the potential to prevent a substantial number of lung cancer deaths. The national lung screening trial demonstrated 15-20% fewer lung cancer deaths among participants screened with LDCT. The objectives of this study is to increase patient participation in dedicated lung cancer screening by providing educational flyers to raise their awareness and encourage them to seek lung cancer screening. Electronic database search of medical questionnaires associated with multimodality imaging studies for 23 outpatient offices in a large private practice in NJ was performed to identify eligible candidates for LCS who have never received dedicated LCS. Eligible candidates are in the age of 50-80 years, had smoked a minimum of 20 pack-years and/or were currently smoking or had quit within the last 15 years. An educational flyer was designed to explain in simple language the importance of lung cancer screening, early detection of premalignant and malignant pathology and its impact on decreasing lung cancer mortality. The flyer is in the preferred language of each candidate, includes visual illustrations to aid in understanding and next steps to obtain LDCT. The flyer will be mailed to their home addresses provided in their files. After four months of this intervention, outcomes will be assessed by verifying in the EMR if candidates underwent at least one screening CT chest after receiving the flyer. Rates of screening will be compared before and after the intervention.