Lung cancer screening

Lung cancer is treatable—and may be curable—if it’s caught early. If you’re at high risk, screening could save your life.

Request an Appointment

For Lung Cancer Screening Requests:

1-800-777-8442

For Family Medicine related requests:: 1-319-384-7222

For Lung Services related requests:: 1-319-356-8133

Lung cancer is the second-most common cancer for both men and women in the U.S.

Because lung cancer doesn’t typically cause symptoms until its late stages, it’s also the leading cause of cancer deaths.

But if it’s diagnosed early, lung cancer is very treatable.

Lung cancer screening can detect very small, early-stage cancers. The procedure is fast, noninvasive, and may be lifesaving.

It’s also very safe. University of Iowa Health Care uses low-dose CT scans, which expose you to much less radiation than regular CT scans.

Our approach to lung cancer screening

About 90% of lung cancers occur in smokers. You qualify for lung cancer screening if you meet all of the following criteria.

You’re between the ages of 50 and 77.
You smoke or have quit smoking within the last 15 years. (If you’re a smoker, our team can help you quit.)
You have at least a 20 pack-year history of smoking (pack-years equals the number of years smoking times the number of packs smoked per day). A 20 pack-year history means half a pack a day for 40 years, one pack a day for 20 years, two packs a day for 10 years, and so on.

If all of these describe you, talk to your primary care provider about ordering a lung cancer screening test.

Partners in decision-making

UI Health Care uses a shared decision-making approach to lung cancer screening.

This means that before your screening, you’ll talk with your primary care provider or someone in our lung cancer screening program to discuss the benefits and risks of screening, and your own preferences.

If you are referred to our program, you will complete a shared decision-making visit by phone or in person.

After your conversation with your provider, or our lung cancer screening team, you’ll be scheduled for your first low-dose CT scan.

If you’re a smoker, we’ll also talk about how we can help you quit.

What to expect during lung cancer screening

You don’t need to do anything to prepare for your scan. The scan is noninvasive and only takes a few minutes. A technician will talk you through the whole process.

This scan will be the baseline for comparison with any future scans.

After your screening

One of our board-certified radiologists will carefully review your scan. And we’ll contact you promptly with your results.

If your scan is normal, you don’t need to do anything further until your next scan 12 months later. Lung cancer screening is an ongoing commitment to your health, like regular colonoscopies or mammograms. To get the most benefit out of screening, you need to have a scan every year.
If your scan shows anything of concern, we’ll send it to a pulmonologist for further review. Most lung nodules, or spots of abnormal tissue, are not cancerous. If you need further testing or a follow-up visit, our team will help coordinate the next steps.

Our lung cancer screening team works closely with UI Health Care experts who treat lung nodules and lung cancer. If you need treatment, we offer minimally invasive, state-of-the-art options.