NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Lung Cancer Screening now available free of charge

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®), with the support of the NCCN Foundation and Lung Cancer Alliance, announces the latest addition to the library of NCCN Guidelines for Patients^™, patient-friendly translations of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines^®). The NCCN Guidelines for Patients™ for Lung Cancer Screening is now available free of charge at NCCN.org, NCCN.com and LungCancerAlliance.org.    

The NCCN Guidelines for Patients^™ are designed to provide people with cancer and their caregivers with state-of-the-art treatment and screening information in easy to understand language. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more people die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer, and it is the second most diagnosed cancer in both men and women in the United States. Given the mortality rates, it is critical to provide resources which can empower the public and caregivers to take an active role in disease prevention and treatment decisions.

The NCCN Guidelines for Patients^™: Lung Cancer Screening is dedicated to the at-risk public and is supported by Lung Cancer Alliance, a national organization devoted to public health advocacy and to providing reliable information on lung cancer risk, screening, diagnosis, and treatment options since 1995. Each year, Lung Cancer Alliance provides tens of thousands of individuals with comprehensive, tailored information which enables them to make educated decisions throughout their cancer journey.

"Lung Cancer Alliance is committed to helping people who are either living with or are at risk for lung cancer. It is a privilege to be collaborating with NCCN on this important, life-saving endeavor," said Laurie Fenton Ambrose, President and CEO of Lung Cancer Alliance.

In announcing the publication of the NCCN Guidelines for Patients^™: Lung Cancer Screening, NCCN's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Patricia Goldsmith acknowledged the importance of sharing this information with the public. "The NCCN Foundation was created to help bring the best treatment guidelines to the public and patients as effectively and quickly as possible," said Ms. Goldsmith. "As with our other NCCN Guidelines for Patients, the Lung Cancer Screening guidelines for those at risk for lung cancer were created from the professional version which physicians use when determining appropriate treatment options. With generous support and collaboration from groups such as Lung Cancer Alliance, we can continue to provide authoritative information and recommendations to the public, patients and their families."

The NCCN Guidelines^® are developed by multidisciplinary panels of experts from NCCN Member Institutions and feature algorithms or "decision trees" that address every appropriate management option from initial work-up throughout the course of the disease. The NCCN Guidelines for Patients^™ translate these professional guidelines in a clear, step-by-step manner that people can use as the basis for making decisions and discussing treatment options with their physicians.

NCCN offers nine other NCCN Guidelines for Patients^™ including Breast, Colon, Non-Small Cell Lung, Ovarian, and Prostate Cancers, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma, Melanoma, and Multiple Myeloma. Additional NCCN Guidelines for Patients^™ will be available throughout 2012.