UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute to Offer Lung Screenings on Saturday, Nov. 11
| The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute will offer lung cancer screenings on Saturday, Nov. 11, from 8 a.m. to noon.
Low-dose CT screenings, which are X-rays of the lungs, will be given on the 3rd floor of the Cancer Institute, which is located at 449 Jack Stephens Drive in Little Rock. Free parking will be available in UAMS Parking Deck 3 next to the Cancer Institute.
An appointment is required. To schedule a screening, call 501-686-6055. The screenings take about 15 minutes. Low-dose CT screening is fully covered by Medicare, and most private insurance also covers the screening.
Screening is recommended for:
- Current smokers or former smokers who have quit within the past 15 years
- Adults ages 50 to 80 years
- Adults with a smoking history of at least 20 pack-years (this means one pack a day for 20 years, two packs a day for 10 years, etc.)
“We hope that by offering screening on the weekend, more people who can’t take time off from work will take advantage of the opportunity to get screened,” said Matthew Steliga, M.D., UAMS thoracic surgeon.
The timing of the event coincides with National Lung Screening Day, and November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Arkansas and the United States.
Ten years have passed since the U.S. Preventative Service Task Force first recommended low-dose CT for lung cancer screening to save lives, yet lung cancer screening rates remain low, with fewer than 1 in 10 eligible individuals having undergone CT screening. This is a striking contrast to more established screening tests for other cancers, including screening mammography (80%) and colorectal cancer screening (70%).
For questions, email plfranklin@uams.edu.