Heart Disease and Lung Cancer: Are You at Risk?
Should You Have a CT Scan?
If one or more of these factors describe you, consider having a heart or lung scan.
Heart Scan:
- A family history of heart disease
- A history of smoking
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Obesity
- A stressful lifestyle
- Lack of exercise
- Diabetes
- Age 45+ (for men) 55+ (for women)
- Menopause without estrogen replacement therapy
Lung Scan:
- A history of smoking
- Exposure to asbestos
- Chronic (long-term) respiratory problems related to smoking, such as shortness of breath or "smoker's cough"
If you have only recently developed respiratory problems related to smoking, or if you have been previously diagnosed with cancer or lung disease, please consult your physician before making an appointment to have a lung scan.
Updated February 2003 — Thirty-two years after retiring from professional baseball, a former New York Yankee named Tom Tresh quietly set a new record.
Tom Tresh, 64, had undergone a CT heart scan at Memorial Regional Hospital in February 2001, only to learn that his results were the worst ever recorded at the hospital during the nine months it had been using the LightSpeed™ scanner to screen people for heart disease.
The news came as a surprise to Tresh, who considered himself to be in excellent health. Although he had not had a physical in several years, he led an active lifestyle and had played in a charity baseball game for Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital just a few days before the scan.
"I had no pain, no symptoms," he said.
Tresh had planned to go home to Michigan after the charity event, but when doctors confirmed he had an advanced case of heart disease, he delayed his return so he could have bypass surgery at the renowned Memorial Regional Cardiac and Vascular Institute.
"I was in good hands. The entire staff was friendly and outstanding. I couldn't have asked for more," he said two months after the procedure.
Earlier Diagnosis Possible
Tresh is one of a growing number of men and women who have benefited from modern CT technology. These scanners take detailed pictures of the heart and lungs, enabling doctors to detect problems in their early stages as well as advanced stages like Tresh's. When combined with other test results and patient information, the scans are useful in the quest for early diagnosis and intervention.
Irving Waldman, MD, a radiologist at Memorial Regional Hospital and a former pack-a-day smoker, is a living testament to the power of CT technology.
When the hospital acquired its LightSpeed™ CT scanner last year, he was among the first to have a lung scan. The results showed a small, cancerous nodule that had gone undetected during his most recent chest X-ray. Fortunately, the nodule was successfully removed.
Waldman said that if he had skipped the CT lung scan and waited until the following spring for his next annual X-ray, that same nodule might have grown larger and more difficult to treat.
"Without question, this new technology gives a more sensitive examination," he said.
Painless and Convenient
In addition to its diagnostic value, CT technology offers comfort, convenience and affordability. The painless, non-invasive scans are performed on an outpatient basis and require very little preparation on the part of the patient.
Tresh, who opted for a lung scan as well as a heart scan, said both procedures were quick and easy.
"I was on the table for only a few minutes, and I didn't even have to put on a hospital gown," he said.
Doing It for the Family
Tresh, who was named Rookie of the Year in 1962, is the son of another professional baseball player, Mike Tresh of the Chicago White Sox, who died of colon cancer at the age of 52.
A husband and father of four, the younger Tresh credits the CT scanner for alerting him to a potentially fatal disease that could have denied him his golden years like his father before him.
"My dad left professional baseball when he was 36 so he could spend more time with me. I did the same thing when I left the New York Yankees and joined the Detroit Tigers in 1969 to be closer to my family.
"I think about how young my father was when he died. I've outlived him now, but I don't feel old at all. I'd recommend CT scans to anyone."