FirstHealth Introduces Lung Bus to Take Screenings on the Road

An estimated 238,340 people were diagnosed with lung cancer in 2023 in the United States and it is the the leading cause of cancer deaths in North Carolina. FirstHealth is pleased to introduce another tool in the fight against lung cancer.

Taking Technology to You

FirstHealth of the Carolinas has long been at the forefront of the lung cancer battle, and that fight is taking a new form – on four wheels – as the system prepares to launch a new mobile Lung Bus, which will take screening technology to the Sandhills and beyond.

“We are thrilled to be taking this technology on the road to the communities we serve,” said Michael Pritchett, D.O., a board certified pulmonologist and director of the Chest Center of the Carolinas at FirstHealth.

“We have known for some time that we can reduce some lung cancer deaths simply through screening, potentially saving as many as 20,000 lives per year. We want to save all the lives we can, and our new Lung Bus is continuing to lower the barriers to screening for lung cancer.”

The test remains the gold standard for helping providers identify lung cancer at its early stages, when there are more treatment options.

The Road to Early Diagnosis

Once FirstHealth’s Lung Bus is up and running in spring 2024, it will visit communities throughout FirstHealth’s service area to offer screening to those who qualify.

Peter Ellman, M.D., a board certified cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon at FirstHealth, said an increase in screening will mean that he and other providers will have more options to treat someone who is diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer and improve outcomes.

“Anyone who has a history of smoking should talk to their primary care doctor about getting screened. It’s low-dose, it’s no contrast, and it can see if there is an early-stage cancer present,” Ellman said. “If we can catch these cases earlier, in many cases, we can do a minimally invasive resection of a lung with small incisions, and patients can often go home the next day.”

Criteria for lung cancer screening as set forth by the United States Preventive Services Task Force include:

• Being between 50 and 80 years of age

• Being a current smoker or having quit smoking in the past 15 years

• Having a 20 pack-year smoking history

• Not having a health problem that limits life expectancy or the ability to have surgery if cancer is found

To determine your pack-year smoking history, multiply how many packs of cigarettes you smoked per day by the number of years you smoked. For example, if you smoked one pack a day for 20 years, you would have a 20 pack-year smoking history. If you smoked two packs a day for 15 years, you would have a 30 pack-year smoking history.

Lung Care at FirstHealth

Our lung specialists are board certified and focus on malignant (lung cancer, lymphoma) and benign (fibrosis, COPD) diseases of the chest. They have specific expertise in the evaluation of abnormal findings of the chest, including nodules, masses, pleural effusions, fibrosis and enlarged lymph nodes.

FirstHealth’s Chest Center, a multidisciplinary clinic specializing in the treatment of diseases of the chest, focuses on the treatment of lung cancer as well as esophageal and mediastinal tumors and benign diseases of the chest. The physicians who call the Chest Center of the Carolinas home continuously pursue ways to improve the outcomes of patients, including participation in treatment and prevention trials. A dedicated nurse navigator works to help Chest Center patients navigate all aspects of the disease.