The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford is getting $50, 000 to promote early detection of lung cancer in the area.
The Centers for Disease Control recently proposed new guidelines for early screening of lung cancer in individuals aged 55 to 80 with a smoking history of 20 cigarettes a day for 30 years. The grant by the Dr. Louis & Violet Rubin Fund of the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois will fund programs and materials to educate Winnebago county physicians on using the new guidelines for their patients.
The College and community collaborators, including OSF Center for Cancer Care, the Department of Pathology at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System Chicago, Rockford Memorial Hospital, SwedishAmerican Hospital, the Winnebago County Health Department, the National Center for Rural Health Professionals, and Health Systems Research, will also try to develop clinical applications based on the guidelines, in an effort to improve detection and prognosis of lung cancer patients in the county.
The college says 250 cases of lung cancer were reported in Winnebago County in 2013, with 189 deaths. The college says the high mortality was probably due to late clinical diagnosis.
