Please join the #lcsm community and moderator @BrendonStilesMD for our first #LCSM Chat of 2017 on Thursday, January 12th, at 8 pm Eastern Time (5 pm Pacific).  The topic of the chat will be “Lung cancer: who is at risk?”

Many in our own #lcsm community have either had lung cancer themselves or have family members who have been affected.  It is common therefore to wonder “Is my family at risk?” or “Am I next?”

While exposure to tobacco smoke is the most well-known risk factor for lung cancer, other significant risk factors exist.  With that in mind, in this week’s chat we aim to identify and explain known predisposing factors for the development of lung cancer, from environmental causes to genetic risk.  We also hope to give participants an understanding of how the probability of developing lung cancer in different groups of patients has been used to determine who is eligible for low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening for lung cancer.  As such, we will review current screening recommendations and guidelines.  We will also discuss the chances that a lung nodule identified on radiologic imaging could actually be lung cancer and explain the Lung-RADS assessment system that radiologists use to classify lung nodules.

We will cover the following topics and questions:

T1:  What are the risk factors for lung cancer and how can they be identified and mitigated in individuals?  Are family members at risk?

T2:  Who should be screened for lung cancer with low dose computed tomography?

T3:  What happens if a lung nodule is found on CT screening or on other radiologic studies?

We are excited to have you join us for this #LCSM Chat.  Patients and their families frequently ask about lung cancer risk.  Obviously, it is a significant concern for many of you in the #lcsm community. Please join us this Thursday and please remember to include #lcsm in ALL your tweets so the other chat participants can see them. You can read a primer on participating in the chat here.