What Are The Chances Of Lung Cancer After Heavy Smoking For 39 Years?

Posted on Tue, 31 Dec 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 31 Dec 2013 Answered on

Mon, 27 Jan 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : How likely will my husband get lung cancer? He smoked 1-2 packs of cigarettes a day for 39 years, and stopped smoking 2 years ago.

Answered by Dr. Satyadeo Choubey (52 minutes later)

Brief Answer: Get screened annually by low dose CT scan Detailed Answer: HI, Thanks for your query. Your husband has smoked 39-78 pack years of cigarettes till now. So there are chances of getting lung cancer. But not all smokers get a lung cancer, as it needs gene-environment interaction. Be cautious, get a chest radiograph done and follow it annually or 6 monthly. or else if you have facility of getting screened by low dose CT scan , thats a good option. Also be cautious of alarming symptoms like weight loss, chest pain, bloody sputum etc... Best wishes

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar