Adena's free lung cancer screening program to be highlighted at national conference

Adena Cancer Center Medical Director Dr. Jeffrey VanDeusen will be among the presenters at this week’s Lung Cancer Screening & Continuum of Care Conference, to be held in Cleveland.

The national conference provides a forum for physicians and educators who are currently involved with CT screening for lung cancer and to promote interaction between varied areas of Oncology to achieve the best possible outcome for patients.
 
Dr. VanDeusen’s presentation on Friday, Oct. 2 will focus on how Adena began to offer and read CT screening scans at no cost to the patient. He will also share the incorporation of smoking cessation education, follow-up and referral information into the program.
 
Since beginning its free CT scans for lung cancer nearly two years ago, Adena has provided screenings to 1,190 unique patients, and offered 1,546 screenings. In total, 14 cases of lung cancer have been found, one case of breast cancer and multiple findings of heart aneurysms and other thoracic issues that patients and their physicians may not have been aware of until it was too late.
 

[[In-content Ad]]Adena’s free CT screening program began in November 2013. To be eligible for a free lung screening, the patient must be between 54-77 years; quit smoking fewer than 15 years ago; and have 30 “pack years” of smoking in their recent or distant past. A “pack year” is calculated by taking the number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day and multiplying it by the number of years the person smoked. Therefore, a two-pack a day smoker, who smoked for 15 years is considered a 30-pack year smoker, and should be tested.
 
Dr. VanDeusen earned his MD PhD from The Ohio State University and completed his residency and fellowship in Internal Medicine and Oncology at Duke University. He joined Adena in 2012 and has been Medical Director of the Adena Cancer Center since May 2013.