Bonus - The Promise and Perils of the Lung Cancer Screening Tool: Tradeoff's Dan Gorenstein Talks to Experts and Patients About Early Detection Vs Unnecessary Treatments
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2021
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On a special episode, Tradeoffs host Dan Gorenstein talks with a host of experts about screening for lung cancer, America's number one cancer killer. While CT scans have provided early insights into a cancer that previously wasn't caught until far too late, this tool has also led to unnecessary procedures, costs, and even disability and death for patients that may not have even been sick. You'll hear from pulmonologist Dr. Gerard Silvestri; behavioral scientist and nurse practitioner Dr. Lisa Carter-Harris; Dr. Cherie Erkmen, surgeon and director of Temple University's Lung Cancer Screening Program; Johns Hopkins oncologist Dr. Otis Brawley; Ida Pittman, a lung cancer patient, and Helena Price, her cousin and health care advocate. If you like this episode, check out the Tradeoffs' podcast www.tradeoffs.org
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Season 4 of Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. |
| 0:13.0 | I'm Josh Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement, and a former Commissioner of Health in Baltimore City. |
| 0:20.0 | Our goal is to bring |
| 0:21.7 | scientific evidence and experience to current topics in public health through engaging interviews |
| 0:27.1 | with scientists, community leaders, policy experts, public health officials, clinicians, and more. |
| 0:32.8 | If you have ideas or questions for us to cover, please email us at public health question at jhhhu.edu. |
| 0:40.4 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:46.4 | Hi, I'm Lindsay Smith-Rogers, producer of public health on call. |
| 0:50.3 | Today, we are again turning the podcast over to guest host Dan Gorenstein, a longtime health |
| 0:55.7 | reporter and host of the podcast, tradeoffs. The topic today is screening for lung cancer, |
| 1:02.0 | which kills 18 Americans every hour. You'll hear from a host of experts, as well as a lung |
| 1:08.1 | cancer patient about how early detection of cancer has likely saved many lives, |
| 1:13.1 | but it's also caused harm through unnecessary, invasive, and often costly treatments. |
| 1:18.9 | If you like this episode, check out the tradeoffs podcast at www.org. |
| 1:25.7 | On that note, we're passing the mic to Dan. |
| 1:29.5 | Lung cancer kills 18 Americans every hour, 130,000 people a year. That's more than breast, |
| 1:36.8 | colon, and prostate cancer combined. For decades, doctors caught most lung cancers too late. |
| 1:43.2 | Half the patients were gone in less than 12 months. |
| 1:46.0 | In early detection tests finally arrived around 2011, but it comes with some real risks, |
| 1:53.0 | and take-up has been abysmal. |
| 1:56.0 | Now, doctors are pushing to expand the test to millions more people. |
| 2:00.0 | Today, balancing the promise and perils of the tool for catching America's top cancer killer. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.