Lung Cancer Screening Program
McGill University Health Centre
Montreal, Quebec
Information
Information on the Québec demonstration project for lung cancer screening can be found at this website
What is lung cancer?
- Lung cancer is a disease where a group of cells of the lung grow in an abnormal way.
- These can become a mass, or tumor.
- It is the number 1 cause of cancer death in Canada for both men and women!
- In fact, more women die of lung cancer than breast cancer.
- Every day, 78 Canadians are diagnosed with lung cancer
- Every day, 58 Canadians die of lung cancer
For a video on lung cancer click here:
Why get screened for lung cancer?
- Lung cancer sometimes does not cause any symptoms.
- Catching it early instead of late allows us to treat it or remove it before it causes a problem or symptoms.
- By screening you for lung cancer, we are trying to find very small lung cancers or spots that may not be causing you any symptoms.
- This way, we can catch small lung cancers early and remove them before they cause any health problems.
What are the benefits and risks of screening?
Benefits :
- The goal of screening is to prevent death from lung cancer
- If your lung cancer risk is high, you may benefit from lung cancer screening with a CT scan.
- We can potentially find lung cancers that are smaller (or less advanced) than if you were not screened.
When we find lung cancer early, it is often easier to treat because it is small (or at an early stage).
This means there are more treatment options available and more chances of cure and long term survival. suite au traitement.
Risks :
- False positive results occur when a detected nodule does not represent cancer.
- This can cause anxiety for certain people while they wait for test results.
- However, understanding that the vast majority of lung nodules (96%) found in CT scans do not represent cancer helps most patients avoid significant anxiety.
- Rarely, small cancers that we detect will never cause problems in your lifetime because they will not grow and spread.
- Treating them with surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy is considered an excessive treatment that can lead to side effects, especially if they do not grow very fast
- If a spot is seen on your CT scan, follow-up tests and biopsies can be needed to confirm if the spot is lung cancer or not.
- These tests usually are at low risks of complications (bleeding or infection), but in rare cases this can occur.
For a video describing the benefits and risks of lung cancer screening click here :
Who should be screened?
- Adults aged 55 to 74 years old
- Adults who are currently smoking or have smoked in the past
- Adults with a high risk of lung cancer (see video)
- Your personal lung cancer risk will be calculated by our program over the phone
- This risk is unique to youand changes depending on how much you have smoked in the past
- It is important to understand that not everyone’s risk of getting lung cancer is the same.
For a video on who should be screened click here:
How do I reduce my risk of lung cancer?
Smoking cessation is the best way to reduce your risk of lung cancer.
To get help with smoking cessation:
- Consult the quit line:
or call 1-866 527-7383
- You can call the Canada national toll-free line at 1-866-366-3667
- Visit:
How do I get screened for Lung Cancer?
Referral
You need to advise your family doctor that you are interested in getting screened for lung cancer
To verify if you are registered to a family doctor please click the image in red.
If you do not have a family doctor, we will put you in contact with one the MUHC partner clinics
You can be screened even if you do not have a family doctor
Eligibility
The provincial coordinating center of the Québec lung cancer screening program will confirm your information by phone or email and confirm whether you are eligible to be screened
Contact
To enroll please call
1-844-656-4312
CT Scan
The date of your low dose CT scan will be received at
the McGill University Health Centre once your eligibility is confirmed
Our Team
Contact Us
McGill University Health Centre
Montreal General Hospital
1650 Cedar Avenue
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
H3G 1A4
Tel: 514-934-1934 ext 76213
Email : Lungcancer.screening@muhc.mcgill.ca
McGill University Health Centre
Site Glen
1001 Decarie Boulevard
Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
H4A 3J1
