Alan Conlon, a smoker for more than 30 years, took the test.
His advice: Go for it, because you're better off knowing.
More Press ReleasesAnn Backhouse - Smoking since a teenager...
Ann Backhouse is 63 years old and smoked for 40 years. Her parents smoked and she started smoking as a teenager, at a time when nearly everybody she knew smoked.
She carried on smoking despite her fears of the damage it might cause her. She was terrified about the effects of smoking; if she woke in the night she worried about lung cancer. "Then during the day I would forget all about it...I smoked on and on and on," Ann says. "We knew what it could do, but of course you think it doesn't happen to you, it happens to everyone else."
But nine years ago Ann gave up smoking and has continued to be smoke-free since then. She quit at the age of 54, at the time of a minor operation. Then a few years later, her doctor gave her a spirometry test, which measures breathing capacity. It shocked her to learn her lung function was equivalent to that of a normal 74-year-old. She was 58 at the time.
A few years later Ann took the Respiragene™ test. "I thought it was a good opportunity," she says. "I thought ‘I've given up smoking; I'll have this test to make sure everything is all right'. I was a little bit smug."
But the result wasn't as encouraging as she expected. Her score, which was 6 out of a possible 12, showed her to be in a very high-risk category for lung cancer. That means she is about 10 times more likely to get lung cancer than an average smoker aged 40 or older. Not all smokers in this very high risk group will develop lung cancer, but their risk is significantly higher. Fortunately for Ann, her risk is steadily reducing the longer she remains smoke free.
After discussing the test findings with her doctor, Ann decided to minimize any possible further harm to her lungs by quitting her job at a quarry where she was regularly breathing in fine dust. She found one in an office instead. She also decided to get fitter, and joined a gym. "I've come to it a bit late, but I love it," she says.
Based on her age and her high score, Ann and her specialist opted for a CT (computer tomography) scan to learn if she had any lung nodules that could be cancerous. It came back clear. Ann is relieved about the result, but she does suffer from breathlessness and her airways are narrowed. She knows she still faces the risk of lung cancer and needs to closely monitor her health. She is alert to the signs, including a persistent cough, persistent chest pain, coughing up blood, or breathlessness which does not respond to the usual treatments. But she knows the signs are not reliable -- she also expects to have regular CT scans in future, as suggested by her doctor.
Most nodules found by CT scans are not malignant, but all need surveillance to monitor growth. An initial scan such as Ann's allows doctors to establish a baseline for future comparison. If Ann develops any symptoms in future, a subsequent scan compared to the baseline can help identify a cancer with greater certainty, and avoids potentially life-threatening delays. Doctors need the baseline to track changes over time, and usually wait three months after an initial positive scan to check for changes. Over those three months a cancer will likely grow bigger.
"I wouldn't change my mind about having the Respiragene™ test," Ann says. "It's better than not knowing - now it's all out in the open. I don't fret; I have come to accept that's the way it is. I hope I don't succumb to cancer - I hope I get away with it. "
Alan Conlon - A smoker for more than 30 years...
Alan Conlon started smoking cigarettes at 15, then took up a pipe in his early 20s and smoked two packets of pipe tobacco a week. He says he found smoking a stress reliever, and joked that the pipe was his counterbalance.
"Sometimes people did say to me I was being stupid, but I said ‘I'll be right'," he says now. He enjoyed smoking, and says he did not consider himself addicted. He didn't try to stop smoking until he was in his late 50s, nearly 10 years ago. "For years I had maintained that I could stop at any time," he says, "but I was wrong."
When Alan developed a cough, he ignored it at first and kept smoking. He had been accompanying his partner to the doctor for regular visits while she was being treated for an unrelated illness. The partner's doctor noticed changes happening to Alan's breathing and referred him to a lung specialist. That was the spur for him to stop smoking, though it took him two years of effort to quit completely.
Alan now has severe emphysema, which he says is a "scary" illness that he has learned to live with. He continues to run his own successful business. "I'm 66 and I'm still working hard," he says. "Never underestimate the power of the mind."
Alan has also taken the Respiragene™ test. "I was scared about taking the test, but there was no cancer in my family that I was aware of," he says. "I thought I was right at the cutting edge of medicine with this test, so I would go along with it."
Alan's Respiragene™ test result showed he was at very high risk. His score was 10 out of a possible 12, meaning he is about 10 times more likely to get lung cancer than an average smoker aged 40 or older. Soon after he did the Respiragene™ test, his doctor suggested a CT (computer tomography) scan due to concerns about his emphysema and very high Respiragene™ score.
The recommended CT scan found a suspicious nodule on his lungs that wasn't seen in a CT scan which Alan had taken three years previously for an unrelated problem. Once a lung nodule is discovered, doctors will closely monitor it to determine whether it is growing or not. An increase in size strongly suggests a cancerous nodule has been identified.
To Alan's great relief, a recommended follow-up CT scan three months later found no increase in the size of the nodule. Had it grown in the intervening period, further investigations would have been urgently done to establish whether the nodule was a stage 1 treatable lung cancer requiring immediate removal. Most lung nodules remain benign and do not require removal.
"You have no idea what it's like to know you don't have cancer," he says. "It's making me feel 10 years younger."
While Alan does not have lung cancer at present, he now knows he has a lung nodule that warrants monitoring and that he is still at risk. Alan will closely watch his own health, and expects to go for another scan in six months.
Given that Alan's genetic test result led to the follow-on discovery of a lung nodule that merits ongoing scrutiny, Alan has no hesitation in recommending the Respiragene™ test to others.
"Go for it, because you're better to be in a position to know," he says. "If you catch lung cancer at an early stage, you can intervene."
Lung cancer is an aggressive cancer which kills 85 to 90% of patients within five years of diagnosis. Survival rates improve dramatically if the disease is detected at an early stage, when symptoms first develop.