Vaughan Regional Medical Center (VRMC) announced Friday that it is now offering a low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening program to help detect lung cancer in certain patients.

“We are proud to offer this screening to our community,” said VRMC CEO David McCormack. “Lung cancer is nearly asymptomatic and, in an effort to keep our community healthier, it is a privilege to offer this screening to patients who may indeed fight the disease.”

In order to qualify for the screening, patients must be between the ages of 55 and 77, have smoked a pack a day for 30 years or two packs a day for 15 years, be a current smoker or one who has quit in the last 15 years, show no signs of lung cancer, have a physician’s order and undergo an educational session with the prescribing physician.

“Lung cancer makes up about 14 percent of all new cancer diagnoses each year, but many patients with the disease don’t have any symptoms at all,” said VRMC Radiology Director Victoria Bond. “This screening has the potential to help save lives by detecting lung cancer earlier, which means patients have the opportunity to begin treatment sooner. It is just one more way we are advancing our mission of ‘Making Communities Healthier ‘and keeping high quality care close to home for those we serve.”

According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer kills more people each year than colon, breast and prostate cancers combined.

The group estimates that in 2019 more than 228,000 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed and more than 142,000 people will die from the disease.

The average age of people diagnosed with lung cancer is 70, with black men about 15 percent more likely to contract the disease that white men.