Foundations Fund Early Lung Cancer Detection Study [04/27-5]
Excerpts from: Can early lung cancer detection lead to tobacco cessation
Medical News Today [04/27/04]
A new screening technology that could detect lung cancer much earlier than ever
before was funded today through matching grants of $1.8 million respectively
from the American Legacy Foundation and the UK's Medicsight Foundation. Weill
Medical College of Cornell University, an international leader in CT screening
for lung-cancer detection, will conduct the research.
The donation will support a 4,000-patient study whose goal is to demonstrate that CT screening for lung cancer can be effectively linked to smoking-cessation programs to enhance the motivation for people to stop smoking. The study, which will begin in June, will use unique advanced image analysis software.
Dr. Henschke directs the Lung Cancer Screening Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she is professor of radiology and division chief of chest imaging.
The American Legacy Foundation – the only national organization solely focused on tobacco prevention and cessation – and Medicsight Foundation, which provides research funds for medical imaging, share Dr. Henschke's interest in determining if participation in early detection programs would lead more smokers to quit.
"The American Legacy Foundation knows that science eventually will find far better ways to detect and treat lung cancer," said Cheryl G. Healton, Dr. P.H, and president and CEO of the Foundation. "The pressing question in the minds of many is whether or not CT screenings for lung cancer will encourage smokers to quit or make them put off this decision even longer. With lung cancer being the leading cause of cancer death in this nation, the Foundation is especially interested in answering this vexing question."
The Medicsight Foundation donation was presented to Dr. Henschke by Steven Rockefeller, the prominent business and philanthropic leader and a foundation patron, during the 10th International Conference on Screening for Lung Cancer at Weill Cornell.
"The Medicsight Foundation recognizes the need for teamwork in lung cancer. We know that primarily lung cancer is the result of smoking," Rockefeller says, "but we also know that smokers need help – and teamwork – if they are to succeed in breaking their damaging addiction. When you go it alone, you have a one in 12 chance of stopping smoking. Support can improve that chance."
The American Legacy Foundation is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, DC, the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use through grants, technical assistance and training, youth activism, strategic partnerships, counter-marketing and grass roots marketing campaigns, public relations, and outreach to populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco. The foundation's national programs include Circle of FriendsTM, Great Start, a Priority Populations Initiative, Streetheory and truth®. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states and the tobacco industry. Visit www.americanlegacy.org.
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