Washington, U.S.A. — Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) has announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has agreed to move forward on CT screening for veterans at high risk for lung cancer. This was communicated to Laurie Fenton Ambrose, LCA President & CEO in written correspondence by VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Robert A. Petzel.

“I am so pleased that high level engagement with senior VA officials has borne fruit,” said Fenton Ambrose, “as bringing this life saving benefit to our veterans has been one of our highest priorities.”

In 2010, the National Cancer Institute terminated one of the largest trials in its history after proving that screening those at high risk for lung cancer with CT scans could dramatically reduce lung cancer deaths.

“No one deserves to die from lung cancer – and certainly not the men and women who have served their country,” said Admiral T. Joseph Lopez (USN-retired), Chairman of the LCA Board of Directors, who personally advocated for the screening benefit.

Lopez continued, “Now that the wheels are in motion at the VA I know that they will understand the urgency and move quickly as lives are literally at stake.”

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death. Military men and women are at higher risk for lung cancer than civilians due to higher smoking rates and exposure to lung cancer causing chemicals.

“As former Secretary of Veterans Affairs, I am grateful to the Lung Cancer Alliance for raising the importance of CT screening for those veterans at risk of lung cancer and to Secretary Shinseki and Under Secretary Dr. Pretzel for this life saving step for the men and women who served our nation in uniform,” said The Honorable Anthony J. Principi, who served as Secretary from 2001 – 2005.

LCA launched in February a National Framework for Lung Screening Excellence and Continuum of Care to ensure that lung cancer screening is implemented responsibly, safely and cost effectively. To date over 150 medical centers across the country have committed to LCA’s National Framework and are screening responsibly and at low cost. The VA has indicated it will also follow established best practices to ensure risk is minimized and the benefit maximized.

In addition, LCA has long been working with a coalition of veterans service organizations, led by Vietnam Veterans of America, to make lung cancer a higher Veterans health care priority and to adapt lung cancer screening for those veterans at risk for the disease.

Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA), http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/, is committed to ending injustice and saving lives through an alliance of advocacy, education, and support. LCA provides live, real time support, referral and information services for patients, their loved ones and those at risk for lung cancer; conducts national awareness campaigns; and advocates for multiple millions in public health dollars for lung cancer research.

Image Courtesy of   photobank.kiev.ua / Shutterstock.com

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As the War on Cancer enters its fifth decade and the number of people being diagnosed with cancer continues to rise, Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) called for more aggressive integration of advanced imaging technology and biomedical research to improve prevention, earlier detection and treatment of cancer.

“We have developed remarkable new tools for imaging and biomarker identification that can bring about enormous changes at this moment in time and drive rapid improvements in the entire continuum of care in cancer,” said Laurie Fenton-Ambrose, President and CEO of Lung Cancer Alliance.

“But imaging and biomedical research must be linked together,” she said.

In 1975, when Congress passed the National Cancer Act, dubbed the War on Cancer legislation, 400 new cases of cancer were being diagnosed each year for every 100,000 people in the population. According to the latest figures, in 2008 that number rose to 463 new cases for every 100,000 people.

Over 1.6 million people will be diagnosed with cancer this year.

While the rate and number of people being diagnosed with cancer overall continues to climb, some progress has been made in reducing the percentage of people who die from cancer, primarily because of screening and better treatments. However the decline is uneven.

The drop in lung cancer death rates among men reflects the drop in the number of men smoking and being diagnosed with lung cancer, but not a reduction in the lethality of lung cancer, which continues to kill three times as many men as prostate cancer.

For women, incidence or mortality rates are still twice as high as they were in 1975 and nearly twice as many women will die of lung cancer than breast cancer.

In addition the percentage of women with lung cancer who have never smoked is twice as high as men.

“The overall numbers are staggering,” said Fenton-Ambrose.

Of the 577,000 people who will die of some form of cancer this year, one in four women and three in ten men will die of lung cancer – more than the combined total of deaths from breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers.

“However, this past year has also brought us the most significant advance we have ever seen for lung cancer – the validation of CT screening as a life-saving tool that can dramatically reduce lung cancer mortality among those at high risk,” she said.

According to several national and international studies, that reduction would be at least 20% and possibly as high as 50-60%, which translates to 35,000 to 95,000 lives saved a year.

Screening can also stimulate research into precancerous conditions, genetic mutations and biomarkers that will improve risk assessment, diagnosis and treatment for all types of lung cancer, including lung cancers not associated with smoking.

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On December 19, Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) praised Senator Scott Brown for his support for the first comprehensive lung cancer legislation now pending action in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act, S. 752 and H.R. 1394, is a bicameral, bipartisan call to action on the leading cause of cancer death.  Senator John Kerry is one of the primary sponsors of the Senate bill that was introduced earlier this year. Other supporters from the Massachusetts congressional delegation include Congressman Barney Frank, Stephen Lynch, John Olver and John Tierney.

Lung Cancer Alliance’s President & CEO Laurie Fenton-Ambrose said, “We are thrilled to see this strong bi-partisan recognition of the urgent need to have a better plan of action to address all aspects of lung cancer which we hope will continue to grow and include all members of the Massachusetts delegation.”

Lung cancer is by far the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, nationally and in every ethnic group. According the National Cancer Institute estimates, this year, in Massachusetts more people will die of lung cancer – 3,490 – more than the combined total of deaths due to breast cancer (760), colon cancer (980) and prostate cancer (640).

Diane Legg, LCA-New England Co-Director said, “As a seven year survivor of lung cancer, it is reassuring to know that our elected leaders have heard our stories, have become better educated about the disease and have become proponents of a call to action that would put life-saving, cost-saving, cancer reducing benefits in motion.”

Rich Monopoli, LCA-New England Co-Director said, “Sadly, the impact of lung cancer goes beyond epidemic yet few people even know that today 80% of lung cancer patients have never smoked or had already quit, often decades ago.  That is why support for a more coordinated and comprehensive plan for this disease is so important – as it will help reduce lung cancer’s stigma and reverse decades of neglect.

The Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act is win-win for all and I am hopeful that the entire Massachusettsdelegation and their New England colleagues will join our call to action.” LCA has been building a network of support for the call to action which includes leading research, veterans, and minority health and labor organizations.

The legislation, H.R. 1394 in the House and S. 752 in the Senate, calls for the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense and Affairs to develop a coordinated research, prevention, early detection and treatment effort with the specific goal of cutting lung cancer mortality in half by the end of the decade.

Lung Cancer Alliance is the only national non-profit dedicated to providing support and advocacy for those living with or at risk for lung cancer.  LCA is committed to reversing decades of stigma and neglect by empowering those with or at risk for lung cancer, elevating awareness and changing health policy at both the federal and state level. For more information visit: www.lungcanceralliance.org.

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Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) announced that its efforts to secure continued increases in federal research funding for lung cancer achieved another victory as an additional $10.2 million was included in the Department of Defense (DOD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) which was part of the FY2012 budget compromise worked out late last night by the House and Senate.

This $1 trillion omnibus spending package includes nine appropriations measures which establish budgets for hundreds of programs across ten Cabinet agencies including the Department of Defense. The President is expected to sign the bill.

The $10.2 million in DOD research funding is in addition to $47.8 million secured to date by LCA since it first established the DOD lung cancer research pipeline three years ago which  targets research for early detection with special emphasis on high risk military bringing the total appropriated to date to $58 million.

“We are proud to share that our advocacy work to date has secured $58 million for lung cancer research funding via this new program,” said Laurie Fenton-Ambrose, President and CEO of LCA.  “Increasing the federal research pipeline for lung cancer has been – and will continue to be – LCA’s core mission.”

The omnibus spending package also includes a $30.7 billion increase in funding for research programs including lung cancer research within the National Institutes of Health – an increase strongly advocated for by LCA.

“Even in times of tight fiscal restraint,” continued Fenton-Ambrose, “we will continue these efforts for patients and survivors as well as our research community because it is essential and critical life-saving work. I thank our congressional leadership for continuing support for this program.”

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among men and women and every ethnic group and among our military who are at an increased risk in comparison to their civilian counterparts. Lung cancer has a 15% 5-year survival rate with the vast majority of cases found late stage.  In addition, nearly 80% of those diagnosed with lung cancer today are former or non-smokers.

Military personnel have a higher exposure to lung cancer carcinogens and thus are more susceptible than the general public. The FY2012 language calls for continued research focus on screening and early disease management, especially among high risk military. For more information go to www.lungcanceralliance.org.

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