New trial targets high-risk patients in hopes of finding cancer early

Suzanne Welman owes her life to a groundbreaking cancer screening trial where she was the first woman in NSW to have her lung cancer detected early and surgically removed to cure her from the deadly disease. And you can be part of the trial.

• ‘Stop asking lung cancer sufferers if they smoked’
• Blood test helps detect cancer ‘years’ before symptoms

Suzanne Welman owes her life to a groundbreaking cancer screening trial.

She has become the first NSW patient in the study to have her lung cancer detected early and surgically removed to cure the 74-year-old of the deadly disease.

“By the time I would have got any symptoms, it would have been too late,” Ms Welman said. “They caught it in time so I don’t need any radiation or chemotherapy.”

More than 9000 Australians lose their lives to lung cancer each year.

Lung cancer survivor Suzanne Welman, with granddaughter Sophie Welman, was the first woman in the study to have lung cancer detected early. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

MORE FROM MIRANDA WOOD

FATIGUED, STRESSED YOUNG DOCTORS TO GET A HELPING HAND

SMART ‘DRUMLINES’ GIVE EXTRA PROTECTION FOR SWIMMERS

HOW THIS CUTE LABRADOR IS HELPING AMBULANCE WORKERS

St Vincent’s thoracic specialist Dr Emily Stone said screening high-risk patients early was effective.

“We know that if you do a CT scan of the right people and find a small early lung cancer, you can save their life,” Dr Stone said.

The new research program is targeting high-risk patients between the ages of 55 and 80 who are smokers or have recently smoked.

St Vincent’s Hospital is one of a number of centres nationwide participating in the international trial, which performs low-dose chest CT scans to detect early lung cancer.

“Anyone with early stage, you usually find it by accident,” Dr Stone said.

“By the time somebody’s coughing up blood, almost always they’re beyond the curable stage.”

Dr Stone said she hoped the results of the new trial, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, would persuade the federal government to fund a national lung screening program.

The program targets high-risk patients between the ages of 55 and 80 who are smokers or have smoked recently. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

A smoker for 58 years, Ms Welman, from Sydney’s east, hasn’t touched a cigarette since undergoing her lifesaving operation at St Vincent’s in December.

“Without entering the trial, I would’ve just kept on merrily smoking and been dead of stage four in a few years’ time,” she said.

Dr Stone said Ms Welman was the “perfect example” of the benefits of early screening.

“She didn’t really know if anything would be found but we did find a nodule, worked it up, and it turned out to be early stage,” she said.

Dr Stone said “nobody deserves lung cancer, whether they smoked or not” with most smokers starting the habit at an age when “they’re not really responsible for their actions”.

To apply, visit www.svhs.org.au/­research-­education/participating-in-research-trials/early-screening-for-lung-cancer