{"id":26527,"date":"2017-06-06T10:47:54","date_gmt":"2017-06-06T14:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toh.wpengine.com\/en\/?p=26527"},"modified":"2021-02-17T10:31:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T15:31:46","slug":"screening-pilot-could-change-the-odds-for-patients-provide-a-new-weapon-against-lung-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/uncategorized\/screening-pilot-could-change-the-odds-for-patients-provide-a-new-weapon-against-lung-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Screening pilot could change the odds for patients, provide a \u201cnew weapon\u201d against lung cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><em>Debi Lascelle (left) and Stephen Aronson are patient advisors on a lung screening pilot program. Both Lascelle and Aronson were diagnosed with lung cancer and treated successfully after taking part in an early screening study.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When people found out that Debi Lascelle had been diagnosed with lung cancer, they almost always reacted the same way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of them would say, \u2018Well, did you smoke?\u2019 I try to own it and say, \u2018Yes, I did. Next question?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her cancer was diagnosed in 2011 when she took part in a study about lung screening. At the time, she was training to volunteer at the May Court Hospice.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My dad died of lung cancer. So when I saw the ad for the study, I carried it around for a while, thinking about it, and then I called,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Family history was also on Stephen Aronson&#8217;s mind when he registered for the same study and was diagnosed with lung cancer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My father was a smoker, and his father was also smoker. My father had lung cancer and he ended up dying of it in the \u201890s,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.21%;\"><iframe title=\"Stephen's Story\" style=\"position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; left: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LgHurC9uF8M?ecver=2 \" width=\"641\" height=\"360\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for women and men in Ontario. About 7,100 people died of lung cancer in 2016 \u2013 more than breast, colorectal and prostate cancers combined.<\/p>\n<p>Regular lung screening for people at a high risk of lung cancer isn\u2019t standard practice in Ontario. For both Aronson and Lascelle, screening meant that their cancers were found at a more treatable stage.<\/p>\n<p>The Champlain Regional Cancer Program, based at The Ottawa Hospital, is one of three regions in the province taking part in a Cancer Care Ontario program to pilot screening for people at a high risk of lung cancer. Lascelle and Aronson are patient advisors for the pilot at The Ottawa Hospital and Renfrew Victoria Hospital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe chance of someone surviving lung cancer has not improved very much over the last few decades,\u201d said Dr. Donna Maziak, a surgical oncologist and the physician lead for the program. \u201cWe wanted to pilot this program because we think that combining lung screening with smoking cessation will improve the odds for our patients. It will give us a new weapon in our fight against lung cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The program launched June 1. People between the ages of 55 and 74 who have smoked for 20 or more years \u2013 not necessarily consecutive years \u2013 are considered to be at a high risk of developing lung cancer, and might be eligible.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.21%;\"><iframe title=\"Debi's Story\" style=\"position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; left: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jK_zQpsYBEs?ecver=2 \" width=\"641\" height=\"360\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For Dr. Treena Greene, Aboriginal Cancer Lead at The Ottawa Hospital, there are clear benefits for screening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have had to say goodbye to my grandfather and my husband&#8217;s ataatatsiaq [maternal grandfather], who both died from lung cancer,\u201d she said. \u201cI need you to ask about lung cancer screening. Taking the time now could give you more years with your loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aronson quit smoking for good before he got his diagnosis, but, \u201cit\u2019s like with any addiction. You may have quit, but you\u2019re still a smoker,\u201d he said. By acting as a patient advisor for the program, he said, he\u2019s able to address some of the stigma directly.<\/p>\n<p>Lascelle agreed. \u201cAttitudes towards smoking have changed a lot, but I was around smokers my whole life. Everyone in my family smoked. I took it up at 14 and quitting was the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everyone referred to the program will be offered support to quit smoking. If you or someone you know would like to learn more about quitting or reducing smoking, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myquit.ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">www.myquit.ca<\/a>, or call 1-877-376-1701.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Debi Lascelle (left) and Stephen Aronson are patient advisors on a lung screening pilot program. Both Lascelle and Aronson were diagnosed with lung cancer and treated successfully after taking part in an early screening study. When people found out that Debi Lascelle had been diagnosed with lung cancer, they almost always reacted the same way. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":26528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13,67,412,410],"class_list":["post-26527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cancer","tag-innovation","tag-population-health","tag-screening"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}