The government’s “war on cancer” has been a big bust, no matter how much the mainstream tries to manipulate the statistics.
The key problem is that the mainstream medical establishment has been limited in what it can do to actually prevent cancer—known as “primary prevention”—because government recommendations regarding diet and lifestyle were so wrong for so long.
Instead, their cancer prevention focuses on big crony-corporatist cancer screenings—or “secondary prevention.” This approach involves letting cancer develop, but then trying to catch it soon enough—through screenings and other early detection methods—that it can be treated before it actually kills the person.
That doesn’t sound very promising, does it? Especially when you consider that there’s no real, science-backed evidence that routine cancer screenings like mammograms, colonoscopies, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests actually reduce death rates.
The good news is that there’s one early-detection cancer screening technique that actually works.
In fact, new research shows that an ultra low-risk lung imaging test called low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) can not only substantially reduce your risk of dying from lung cancer—but it can also decrease your risk of dying from any cause.
Now here’s the irony…“Experts” at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and other government agencies downplay and ridicule this test for anyone other than smokers or ex-smokers. And they’re not even particularly keen on this high-risk group getting LDCT tests.
But their reasoning is faulty—and I actually advise everyone, smoker or not, to ask their doctor about LDCT early-detection cancer screening.
After you see the impressive research on this life-saving technique, you’ll understand why…
The simple test that can slash your risk of dying from lung cancer by 58 percent
During the LDCT test, an x-ray machine scans your body using low doses of radiation to make detailed pictures of your lungs. It’s safe, effective, pain-free, and noninvasive—unlike most other cancer screening techniques out there.
And even better, there are three convincing studies that show how LDCT can find lung cancer early enough to treat and actually cure it.
The newest of these studies is the Multicentric Italian Lung Detection (MILD) trial, which was just published in April. Researchers gathered nearly 4,100 current or former smokers, ages 49 to 75, and divided them into two groups. The first group had three LDCTs over a 10-year period. The second group didn’t have any lung-cancer screenings.1
Ten years later, the LDCT group had a 39 percent reduced risk of dying from lung cancer when compared with the control group. Plus a 20 percent reduction in overall mortality from any cause.
That’s impressive enough. But researchers also observed that the cancer-prevention benefit actually increased as time went on. After five years of screenings, the LDCT group had a whopping 58 percent reduced risk of dying from lung cancer, and a 32 percent reduction in overall mortality.
This likely means that the LDCT screening is cumulative. The more tests you have, the more likely your doctors are able to identify and treat lung cancer early—when it can still be cured.
LDCT is particularly effective for women
Another large LDCT study, presented at the 2018 Conference on Lung Cancer, involved more than 15,000 men and women who had smoked for 25 years or more.2
Again, the study participants were divided into two groups. One group received no lung cancer screenings, and the other group had four LDCT tests—at year 1, 2, 4, and 6.5 of the study period.
Again, the researchers analyzed results at year 10 of the study. They found that in the LDCT group, men had 26 percent fewer lung cancer deaths compared with the control group. And women had a remarkable 61 percent reduction in lung cancer deaths when compared with the control group.
This echoes the 2010 findings of the National Lung Screening Trial—the largest randomized study of LDCT screening in the U.S., involving 53,000 male and female current or former smokers, ages 55 to 70.3
Researchers found that study participants who underwent annual LDCT tests for three years had a 20 percent lower death rate from lung cancer during an average follow-up period of 6.5 years.
Why many doctors don’t think to screen for lung cancer
These three studies show that lung cancer screening shouldn’t stop after only a few years, since the risk of cancer continues to increase as we age.
And yet, lung cancer screenings rarely occur in mainstream healthcare—despite the fact that lung cancer is the second-most common cancer diagnosis in the U.S. (behind breast cancer) and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths by far.4
I’ve even read estimates that only a paltry 2 to 3 percent of the at-risk population are actually being screened for lung cancer.
Sadly, compared with the “routine” screenings for far less fatal cancers, fewer facilities even offer lung cancer screenings—and there is less health insurance reimbursement for the facilities that do.
Some of this is due to public health “experts” claiming that people at risk of lung cancer don’t “bother” to get lung screenings, supposedly because they don’t care about their health anyway.
In fact, as I reported in a 2013 Daily Dispatch, studies even show that healthcare providers think lung cancer patients are somehow less deserving of treatment than other cancer patients. And unfortunately, there hasn’t been much change six years later.
Why lung cancer is on the rise in people who have never smoked
This “blame the victim” mentality is particularly despicable because it’s not even based on fact. The government’s own figures show that 15 percent of new lung cancer cases are diagnosed in people who have never smoked.5
And yet, the NCI has made the fateful decision to channel almost all funding for lung cancer research into smoking cessation and prevention—despite the growing evidence that some people have genetic abnormalities that increase their risk of lung cancer and other lung diseases. Plus, some people develop lung cancer after exposure to toxins like asbestos.
In addition, there’s new research showing that estrogen levels and hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) may account for the increasing numbers of female non-smokers diagnosed with lung cancer (see page 3 for more dangers of HRT).
That’s why LDCT lung cancer screening should be widely expanded.
At the very least, doctors should be asking about family history and discussing whether this test is right for all of their patients—smokers or not.
If your doctor isn’t doing this, don’t be afraid to speak up and ask for a referral to your nearest cancer-screening facility.
And in the meantime, there are numerous ways to strengthen your lungs and protect yourself from lung disease. In fact, I’m putting the finishing touches on my brand new lung protocol, which will be available later this year. In it, I discuss all of the newest, most natural ways to strengthen your lungs to protect you from lung disease—America’s third most lethal killer.
As always, you’ll be the first to hear about when this unique protocol will be available to the public, so stay tuned!
Sources:
1“Prolonged Lung Cancer Screening Reduced 10-year Mortality in the MILD Trial.” Ann Oncol. 2019 Apr 1. pii: mdz117.
2“Effects of volume CT lung cancer screening: Mortality results of the NELSON randomized-controlled population based trial.” 2018 World Conference on Lung Cancer. Abstract PL02.05. Presented September 25, 2018.
3“Reduced lung-cancer screening mortality with low-dose computed tomographic screening.” N Engl J Med 365:395-409, 2011.
4https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2019/cancer-facts-and-figures-2019.pdf
5https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/SupportingDoc/lung-cancer-screening/evidence-summary4#citation1