Lung Cancer Screening on Wheels
Lung cancer is the deadliest type of cancer in the United States, claiming about 125,000 lives each year — more than breast, colorectal and cervical cancers combined. Though lung cancer screening by CT scan can be lifesaving and insurers are required to cover it, the test is a little-known option. Less than 20 percent of eligible people get screened, compared with the 70 to 80 percent who get mammograms, colonoscopies and Pap smears, federal data shows.
These challenges are exacerbated in West Virginia, which has the highest smoking rate in the country and a largely rural population without easy access to a hospital with lung screening. Half of its lung cancer cases are not caught until Stage 4, when treatment options are limited.
LUCAS, which is run by the West Virginia University Cancer Institute, hit the road in 2021. It was the first fully mobile lung cancer screening unit in the country. 'We have to be more creative about bringing health care to people,' said Dr. Hannah Hazard-Jenkins, the institute's director. 'As opposed to always forcing them to us.'
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
FDA flags problems with two Boston Scientific heart devices tied to injuries and deaths
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators are warning doctors and patients about safety issues with two separate Boston Scientific heart devices recently linked to injuries and deaths. The Food and Drug Administration issued two alerts Wednesday about electrical problems tied to the company's heart-zapping defibrillator systems and a separate issue with a heart implant used to reduce stroke risk. The agency said the company's Endotak Reliance defibrillator wires can become calcified, leading to failures in delivering life-saving shocks to the heart, according to the FDA. Defibrillators are surgically placed in the upper chest, where they monitor irregular heartbeats and use electrical shocks to jolt the heart back to normal. As of July 24, Boston Scientific has reported 386 serious injuries and 16 deaths associated with this issue, the agency said. Ten of the deaths were judged to be due to the device failing to function properly, the company said in an email. Four were linked to attempts to surgically remove the devices from patients and two others were deemed unrelated to the implants. Boston Scientific's wires were distributed between 2002 and 2021 and are no longer available, the company noted in its letter to doctors. Some patients will need to have the devices replaced, though physicians should weigh the risks of the removal procedure. In a separate notice, the FDA said Boston Scientific recently updated instructions for implanting its Watchman device, which closes a portion of the heart's left atrium to reduce the risk of stroke. In a letter to physicians, the company noted that there is an increased risk of blockages in the bloodstream depending on the level of anesthesia for patients undergoing the initial implantation procedure. Watchman is an alternative to long-term treatment with blood thinners for patients at increased risk of stroke. As of July 30, the company has reported 120 serious injuries and 17 deaths related to the issue, the FDA said. A company investigation concluded that the safety issue 'is not associated with the design or manufacture of any component of the Watchman system. Heart devices, including defibrillators and other implants, are Boston Scientific's largest business, making up two-thirds of its $5 billion in revenue for the most recent quarter. Shares of Boston Scientific Corp. fell nearly 1.8 percent Wednesday to close at $102.95 in trading. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Stoke Therapeutics to Present at the Canaccord Genuity 45th Annual Growth Conference
BEDFORD, Mass., August 06, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: STOK) is a biotechnology company dedicated to restoring protein expression by harnessing the body's potential with RNA medicine and has a lead investigational medicine, zorevunersen, in development as a first-in-class potential disease-modifying treatment for Dravet syndrome. The Company today announced that Interim Chief Executive Officer Ian F. Smith will present at the Canaccord Genuity 45th Annual Growth Conference on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, at 11:30 a.m. ET. A live webcast of the presentation, along with an archived replay, will be available in the Investors & News section of Stoke's website at About Stoke TherapeuticsStoke Therapeutics (Nasdaq: STOK), is a biotechnology company dedicated to restoring protein expression by harnessing the body's potential with RNA medicine. Using Stoke's proprietary TANGO (Targeted Augmentation of Nuclear Gene Output) approach, Stoke is developing antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to selectively restore naturally-occurring protein levels. Stoke's first medicine in development, zorevunersen, has demonstrated the potential for disease modification in patients with Dravet syndrome and is currently being evaluated in a Phase 3 study. Stoke's initial focus are diseases of the central nervous system and the eye that are caused by a loss of ~50% of normal protein levels (haploinsufficiency). Proof of concept has been demonstrated in other organs, tissues, and systems, supporting broad potential for Stoke's proprietary approach. Stoke is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts. For more information, visit View source version on Contacts Stoke Media & Investor Contacts: Dawn KalmarChief Communications Officerdkalmar@ 781-303-8302 Doug SnowDirector, Communications & Investor RelationsIR@ 508-642-6485
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump once hailed mRNA vaccines as a 'medical miracle.' Now RFK Jr. is halting advancement
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hailed as a 'medical miracle' the mRNA vaccines developed to combat the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Now, his health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is effectively halting the vaccine technology's advancement. Kennedy announced Tuesday that the federal government is canceling $500 million worth of mRNA research development contracts, putting an end to U.S.-backed hopes for the vaccine technology to prevent future pandemics, treat cancer or prevent flu infections. It's a sharp pivot from how Trump and top officials described the technology during his first term. Here's a look at what Trump and some of his closest advisers have said about mRNA vaccines that were credited with slowing the pandemic five years ago. Robert Redfield, Trump's director of the Centers for Disease Control 'A COVID-19 vaccine is the thing that will get Americans back to normal everyday life,' said Redfield, in a Sept. 16, 2020, statement. Americans were still donning face masks as one of the few ways of protecting themselves from a virus that had killed nearly 200,000 in just over six months. Redfield promised that the new vaccines — developed for the first time using mRNA technology — would offer a return to normalcy. Trump wanted to make sure Biden didn't get credit 'Don't let Joe Biden take credit for the vaccines ... because the vaccines were me, and I pushed people harder than they've ever been pushed before .. The vaccines are — there are those that say it's one of the greatest things. It's a medical miracle.' Trump said on Nov. 26, 2020, during a news conference in the White House. Weeks earlier, Trump had lost the election in a bitter race against Democrat Joe Biden. As the Republican grappled with leaving Washington and continued to plan for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, he reminded reporters that he oversaw the development of the new shots. 'They say it's somewhat of a miracle and I think that's true,' Trump said on Dec. 8, 2020, during a speech at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The event celebrated 'Operation Warp Speed," the government-funded project that accelerated vaccine development with pharmaceutical companies. Trump was promoting the shots as the government prepared to offer them to frontline health workers. Trump's first-term health secretary, Alex Azar 'It's clear that many Americans are learning these vaccines are safe and extraordinarily effective,' Azar said on Dec. 16, 2020, at a news conference. The government was shipping out mRNA vaccines to states, preparing to distributed it to the masses. Azar noted that a vast majority of Americans — between 70% to 80%, according to polls — intended to get the new COVID-19 vaccine that would be available to the public in the coming months. Gen. Gusave Perna, Trump's chief operating officer for pandemic response 'It takes somewhere between five and 10 years to put a vaccine on the street. Look what we did. Now, that's because of the great work of the scientists who had done the research on mRNA vaccines and others because of industry working on this, they just didn't wake up one day and start working on it,' Perna said during a podcast interview that aired on May 9, 2023. Reflecting in an interview about his time overseeing 'Operation Warp Speed,' Perna credited the mRNA technology with the government's ability to get shots in arms mere months after the pandemic started claiming lives in the U.S. in 2020. Trump supporters boo his vaccine accomplishments 'Take credit because we saved tens of millions of lives. Take credit. Don't let them take that away from you,' Trump said on Dec. 19, 2021 during a live interview with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. Daily COVID-19 deaths had ticked down to 1,500 compared to 3,000 from a year earlier after Americans began receiving their first doses of the mRNA vaccines. Trump revealed to O'Reilly and the audience that he had just gotten a COVID-19 booster. The crowd booed. Amanda Seitz, The Associated Press
