Lung cancer and veterans: Latest in early detection

Well, for many veterans, protecting their health after military service means understanding risks that they may not be able to see. Advances in early detection, testing, and treatment are offering new hope. Joining us this morning to talk more about these advances and the health challenges some veterans face are Dr. Martin Edelman, an oncologist with Fox Chase Cancer Center, and Jerry Spencer, an Air Force veteran who developed multiple primary cancers after plutonium exposure during active duty. Thank you both for your time this morning. We so appreciate it. Dr. Edelman, we're going to start with you. Why should veterans be especially proactive about lung cancer screenings, maybe even if they feel healthy and they don't have any symptoms? Because veterans need to be very proactive about lung cancer screening, because in addition to standard, well-known things like smoking, veterans tend to have been exposed to other known carcinogens and suspected carcinogens, things like asbestos, radiation. Lung cancer screening with a low-dose CT scan is actually more effective than mammography. It takes about 300, rather 500 women to be screened with mammography to prevent one breast cancer related death. It's about 300 or so people to be screened for lung cancer with low dose screening to prevent one lung cancer related death. So if you're urging your women friends to get there, or women to get breast cancer screening with mammography, one should certainly be also urging one to get screening with low dose CT scan. Well, and is it just lung cancer? What other cancers do our veterans need to think about? Can you repeat the question, please? Is it just lung cancer? I mean, what other cancers do our veterans need to be thinking about? So, there are other cancers that should be screened depending upon age and risk factors. So I certainly would urge screening for colon cancer with colonoscopy or Cologuard testing. All of that's quite reasonable and they should see their physician about the recommended screening test for those cancers. Jerry, thank you so much for your service to our country. You served in the Air Force at a nuclear bomber base in northern Maine during both the Vietnam and the Cold War. Tell us about lung cancer that you dealt with, and it was the second of five cancer diagnoses. You know firsthand how important it is to have options. Tell us about your experience with lung cancer. Well, the lung cancer, as you said, was the second of the cancers, and it was from that that led to biomarking, testing, and next-generation sequencing that I found that I was exposed to plutonium, which damaged my genes and made me more susceptible to the other carcinogens to which you're exposed in the service. What is your message to other veterans this morning about getting screened, being proactive, even if they think that they're fine and they don't have symptoms? It's a typical in the service to be a tough guy, that's what you are when you're a soldier. And now you need to take care of yourself, you've done your duty, you need to get out there, you need to get screened, you need to have your biomarkers tested, you need to go to LCFA America and get the most information possible. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones. Dr. Edelman, a VA study that you guys recently did, it found three-year lung cancer survival among veterans treated within the VA more than doubled. What do you think is driving this improvement? So what's driving the improvement in the for veterans in the VA system is that lung cancer treatment is a team sport. You need to have the coordinated actions of pulmonary physicians, radiologists, thoracic surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists to obtain the optimum result and they need to all work together and the VA has well-coordinated systems 75% in association with an academic medical center and clear quality metrics. And all of that has actually resulted in superior outcomes for lung cancer in the VA system compared with community hospitals. Jerry, how did the VA help you and how is your prognosis moving forward? Well, my prognosis is great. I am 20 years out from the first cancer, nine from the second, five from the third. And two from the fifth. So the help I got from the VA, the medical community, the oncologist, is fantastic. I'm very fortunate to be alive. And a lot of it has to do, again, with the medical team and the information that was available, a lot of which is on LCF America's website. Well, we're so happy that you're doing well. We thank you again for your service. Dr. Edelman, thank you for your time and breaking all this down for us. We appreciate it. Thank you, Katie. Thank you.