Source: United Daily News via Uni-Pharma · 2025-08-27 · Reporter: Yang De-Yi
A 50-year-old male patient, who annually underwent chest X-rays and was told “there’s nothing wrong,” recently sought medical evaluation after experiencing mild shortness of breath. This time, the imaging revealed a startling discovery: “hundreds of star-like metastases scattered through his lungs,” indicating advanced-stage lung cancer.
Dr. Su Yi-Feng, a thoracic physician at Taipei City Hospital Yangming Branch, shared on Facebook that the patient’s normal X-ray from the previous year gave him a false sense of security. However, “You should never assume that an annual X-ray is enough to rule out late-stage lung cancer,” Dr. Su cautioned. He added, “If a low-dose CT (LDCT) scan had been performed last year instead, the cancer might have been detected earlier.”
Since 2022, the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Health Promotion Administration has included LDCT in the government’s free lung cancer screening program. Eligible groups include current smokers and individuals with a family history of lung cancer. As of now, 21,000 screenings have been conducted, identifying 2,506 lung cancer cases.
Under the screening guidelines, individuals with any of the following high-risk factors and a National Health Insurance (NHI) ID may undergo a biennial low-dose chest CT scan:
- Family history of lung cancer — women aged 40–74 or men aged 45–74 with immediate family diagnosed with lung cancer. Smokers in this category are advised to enroll in smoking cessation programs.
- Heavy smokers — individuals aged 50–74 with a smoking history of 20 pack-years or more, presently smoking or having quit less than 15 years ago. Smoking cessation support is recommended.
Reminder: Smoking is harmful to health.
