He received a low-dose CT scan performed as part of the trial that revealed a walnut-sized tumor in his right lung. Linscott, 61, was surprised at the results, delivered by Dr. Cynthia Chin, a thoracic surgeon at the hospital whom he knew well from his custodial work in the operating rooms. “I felt fine at the time, but if I had waited a year, it could have been much worse,” says Linscott, a 14-year employee of the hospital. “I was glad the doctors found it when they did. I received great care at White Plains Hospital—I was literally at the right place, at the right time.” After receiving the disturbing diagnosis, he was determined to fight. A minimally-invasive surgery was performed by Dr. Todd Weiser, director of thoracic surgery, Dr. Scott Berman, and Chin, principal investigator for the screening program study, and six weeks later, Linscott returned to work. Today, he’s cancer free — and grateful he joined the clinical trial offered by White Plains Hospital.
Chin and Weiser launched the clinical trial in 2012, soon after they relocated their practice to White Plains Hospital from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. The screening program was born out of their frustration with the number of patients they were seeing with late-stage lung cancer, according to Weiser. “When it’s caught early, lung cancer is very curable,” Weiser emphasizes. “Yet lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide and in the United States." The clinical trial offers free low-dose scans, plus smoking cessation counseling and materials to high-risk individuals who have no symptoms of lung disease. Follow-up testing is immediately scheduled if findings are suspicious.
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