Low Dose CT lung cancer screening scan

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - Lung cancer is one of the cancers we see most in our region, but early detection can save your life.

“Many times patients do not know they have it, or they’re not diagnosed until they’re showing symptoms, which is typically a later stage.”

That’s why the director of radiology at Christus Ochsner, Jeremiah Juneau says early detection of lung cancer can lead to a better prognosis for patients.

“One of the things we’re providing in Christus Ochsner of Southwest louisiana is ldct’s, which is a low dose ct scan.”

And they are certain patients the technology benefits most.

“We do follow the CMS guidelines for getting patients in,” he said. “The patients need to be between 55 and 77 years of age, they need to be asymptomatic, which is one of the keys of catching it early, and they must have a history of smoking, whether they’re current smokers or former smokers within the past 15 years.”

Becoming more popular due to its effectiveness, Juneau says it’s not only a quick scan but cost-effective.

“It’ll detect tumors that are very small, but we also have patients that come in that are asymptomatic, and it reveals quite a large tumor that they can go straight to a biopsy or pet ct scan, followed by a biopsy.”

With November celebrating National Lung Cancer Awareness Month, he tells me they want to inform the community of this.

“We do need a physician’s referral for this type of exam,” he said. “The orders can be sent to our centralized scheduling department at Christus Ochsner Southwest Louisiana. Once the orders are received, our patient navigator Susan patterson will review the orders, once it’s approved, then we schedule this exam.”

Juneau says when it comes to turnaround times for reports to get back to the physicians it takes one business day or less.

He says most insurance covers the scan, but if you don’t have insurance there is a self-pay price of $124.

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