The American Lung Association (ALA) has launched an initiative to raise lung cancer screening awareness among Black and Brown Americans and women.
The project is supported by a grant from AstraZeneca and will not only will offer educational material to those eligible for screening but will also work to ensure that insurance firms comply with the expanded coverage mandated by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in February, the ALA said.
In March of last year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) expanded lung cancer screening guidelines to include those between the ages of 50 and 80 with a 20 pack-year smoking history. The CMS followed suit soon after. These expanded guidelines translate to more than 14 million additional individuals eligible for lung cancer screening in the U.S., the ALA said.
![Images show the pectoralis muscles of a healthy male individual who never smoked (age, 66 years; height, 178 cm; body mass index [BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared], 28.4; number of cigarette pack-years, 0; forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1], 97.6% predicted; FEV1: forced vital capacity [FVC] ratio, 0.71; pectoralis muscle area [PMA], 59.4 cm2; pectoralis muscle volume [PMV], 764 cm3) and a male individual with a smoking history and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) (age, 66 years; height, 178 cm; BMI, 27.5; number of cigarette pack-years, 43.2, FEV1, 48% predicted; FEV1:FVC, 0.56; PMA, 35 cm2; PMV, 480.8 cm3) from the Canadian Cohort Obstructive Lung Disease (i.e., CanCOLD) study. The CT image is shown in the axial plane. The PMV is automatically extracted using the developed deep learning model and overlayed onto the lungs for visual clarity.](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/03/genkin.25LqljVF0y.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=focalpoint&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
