View Larger Image UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute to Offer Lung Cancer Screenings on Saturday, Nov. 9
An appointment is required. To schedule a screening, call 501-944-5934.

UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute to Offer Lung Cancer Screenings on Saturday, Nov. 9

By Marty Trieschmann

| The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute will offer lung cancer screenings Saturday, Nov. 9, 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 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 501-944-5934. The screenings take about 15 minutes. Low-dose CT screening is fully covered by Medicare and most commercial insurance.

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.)

The timing of the event coincides with the third annual National Lung Screening Day and Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

According to the American Lung Association 2024 State of Lung Cancer Report, lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer deaths in Arkansas and across the nation, second only to heart disease. Arkansas ranks 33 out of 51 U.S. states for lung cancer screening and 50 out of 51 states for smoking.

“Today, most people who are diagnosed with lung cancer in its early stages can go on to live long, healthy lives,” said Matthew Steliga, M.D., division chief of thoracic surgery at UAMS. “But step number one is to get screened.

“It’s natural for anyone to be fearful of a cancer diagnosis, but lung cancer has excellent survival rates when it’s caught in time. We see great outcomes in our lung cancer patients, especially when we catch them early.”

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 getting the 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.