Question: Hi,

A person with severe anxiety here looking for help! My question relates to lung cancer screening.

There are no current lung cancer screening programmes available, so I am contemplating paying for a CT scan as a precaution when I am aged over 40 (the minimum age at which this will be administered by the services that provide it).

I am currently 33 years old.

The reason I am contemplating this is that unfortunately my mother was diagnosed with stage 1 non-small lung cancer aged 42. It was caught at the earliest stage and following a partial lung removal, she made a full recovery. She had a smoking history of 24 years, and did so until 8 months prior to the diagnosis. Our oncologist and numerous doctors reassured that this was not hereditary. There are also no other instances of cancer in my family.

To my regret, I previously smoked cannabis for a period of 9 years. I wasn't a heavy user, on average 9-10 'joints' per week, with long periods of abstinence intermittently. I did not smoke cigarettes. I really regret this.

Following a major lifestyle change, I have now totally abstained from this activity for 1.5 years, and furthermore eat healthy and exercise regularly.

My question is, 'is there a general timeframe in which any potential abnormalities would become visible via CT?' Given that my moms was noticed at a very early stage, if I were to use her age as benchmark for testing would a CT scan say 1 year prior to the age of 42 be too soon?

I would really appreciate your help and reassurance that I have a sizeable period before any such CT scans would detect the earliest sign of a potential problem.

Kind Regards,

Thank you for the extremely reassuring response Doctor.

However, I would like to add that I did include rolling tobacco with the marajuana when consuming, however this was vastly lower in quantity compared to normal cigarettes.

Given the above, and coupled with the fact that I smoked only a minimal amount compared to the standard cigarette smoker, does your advice still apply? My equivalent 'pack years' equates to around 5-6 years. I am certainly hoping so!

Finally, I would like to ask......... Is there a general amount of time in which a potential abnormality would become visible after it into XXXXXXX began to grow? I ask for reassurance purposes only. Eg 6 months after, 1 year after? Your assistance on this would be greatly received.

Sincere Thank you again

Thank you for that doctor, the information provided has been greatly appreciated. Particularly relating to genetic risk, although my GP dos say so it's nice that an expert can also back that up.

I in that case will not have a CT.

I will not hesitate to use you again moving forward.