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>>Narrator: Even though rehab can be a challenge, Robin Skinner is glad to be here. She had
part of a lung removed because of cancer - which was discovered, purely by chance, during a
routine exam.
>>Robin Skinner: Cancer did run in the family, but I wasnÕt expecting it. I had no symptoms
to know that I had cancer. >>Narrator: ThatÕs not uncommon. Many patients donÕt realize
they have lung cancer until itÕs advanced. But the key to survival is finding it and
removing it early. >>Carlo Croce MD: The probability of cure,
by removing the tumor from the lung of the patient, is very, very high. Otherwise, the
probability of cure is very low. >>Narrator: Right now, the best way to find
lung tumors is with a spiral C-T scan. But those are often prescribed only after there
are signs of trouble. But the research of doctor Carlo Croce and his team at Ohio StateÕs
James Cancer Hospital could lead to a new approach - one that uses a simple blood test.
They followed more than a thousand smokers and discovered that, in just a few drops of
blood, they could detect signs of lung cancer in some patients a full 2 years before they
were visible on a scan. But thatÕs not all they found.
>>Carlo Croce MD: With this method we can determine that a tumor is developing, before
a spiral CT, but we have also an indication of how bad that small tumor is.
>>Narrator: Knowing how aggressive a tumor might be, could soon allow doctors to be more
aggressive with their treatments - all thanks to a simple... sample of blood. At Ohio SateÕs
James Cancer Hospital, this is Clark Powell reporting.