Release #319-00

 

Contact:

Sunny Mindel/Curt Ritter(212) 788-2958

Funds from Tobacco Settlement and Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield to Examine
Pioneering Technique to Screen Lung Cancer at its Earliest and Most Treatable Stages

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani - joined by Dr. Maria K. Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Academic Medicine Development Company, (AMDeC) a statewide consortium of 35 academic medical research centers, teaching hospitals and research institutions - today announced the New York Early Lung Cancer Action Program (NY-ELCAP). This program will examine the effectiveness of CT (computerized tomography) scanning in diagnosing lung cancer at its earliest and most treatable stages. It will screen 10,000 New Yorkers who are heavy or former smokers to confirm the findings of a pilot project conducted at the Weill Cornell Medical Center of New York - Presbyterian Hospital. This program will also set the stage for broader use of this technique.

Also joining the Mayor were Deputy Mayor for Planning, Education and Cultural Affairs Anthony P. Coles, Dr. Michael A. Stocker, President and Chief Executive Office of Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and Dr. Antonio M. Gotto Jr., Dean of the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

"This announcement is a major health initiative which will combine the energies of the public and private sector to help develop the best means for early detection and successful treatment of lung cancer," said Mayor Giuliani. "One of the most promising new technologies for cancer screening and diagnosis is known as the CT screen. This study will determine whether the use of CT screening technology can dramatically improve early detection of lung cancer for people at high risk.

"New York City is an appropriate place to host this study because of the sheer size and diversity of our City's population, and the caliber of our distinguished medical and research community," the Mayor continued. "This program represents a partnership between ten of New York's pre-eminent medical schools, academic health centers and research institutions. In particular, this study will work to recruit minority participants through extensive community outreach, because lung cancer affects communities of color at disproportionately high rates and is more fatal in these
communities than in other comparable populations. I want to thank AMDec and Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield for their efforts in fighting this disease," the Mayor concluded.

The City will contribute $4 million to fund NY-ELCAP, while Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield will provide $1 million, and The New York Community Trust - one of New York's oldest and largest philanthropic foundations - will provide a grant of $520,000. The City's contribution will be allocated from a portion of the tobacco settlement fund resulting from litigation against tobacco manufacturers.

"This is a very exciting step forward for this promising diagnostic toll, and for AMDeC's ability to develop and manage large-scale medical research projects," said Dr. Mitchell. "Through AMDeC's development of a multi-institutional project that builds on the strength of one institution, this public-private partnership will rapidly evaluate the efficacy of annual CT screening for lung cancer. The special focus on screening people from minority populations - who are both at special risk and often under-represented in medical research - is of particular importance to AMDeC.

"Mayor Giuliani deserves special credit for allocating a portion of New York City's funding from the Tobacco Settlement to support this study," Dr. Mitchell continued. "New York City is using a significant portion of its tobacco litigation proceeds to directly combat smoking, the leading cause of lung cancer, and in this instance to fund vital research to detect and conquer lung cancer itself.

"AMDeC also is grateful to Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which is making a crucial contribution to NY-ELCAP. It is significant that Empire, a pillar of the insurance industry, is so vigorously supporting the testing of this promising new application of technology. We also appreciate the generous grant from The New York Community Trust - the largest non-designated gift the Trust has ever given - that established the Program's coordinating center and began the recruitment and screening activities," Dr. Mitchell concluded.

The leading cause of cancer mortality in the Untied States is lung cancer, which kills 160,000 Americans each year - more than the combined total fatalities from the next three leading cancers: cancers of the breast, prostate, and colon. However, if cancer nodules are detected and removed in their initial phrase, the five-year survival rate from lung cancer can exceed 70 percent. In contrast, the overall rate of cure for lung cancer is 12 percent, and five-year survival rates for cases where lung cancer is detected in its largest stages are only slightly higher. Therefore, identifying an appropriate method for early lung cancer detection is a critical public health goal.

The goals for NY-ELCAP are:

• To provide immediate availability of CT screening for individuals with a high risk of lung cancer in a structured program;
  
• To ensure the quality of CT imaging and its interpretation with the aim of presenting guidelines for high quality diagnostic and treatment programs;
  
• To develop the appropriate quality assurance measures required for the establishment of an effective screening program;
  
• To rapidly evaluate, within two years, the efficacy of annual CT screening for Lung Cancer; and
  
• To provide the rationale for statewide screening recommendations.

A major focus of AMDeC's NY-ELCAP will be minority populations, because lung cancer affects these populations at disproportionately high rates. For example, the mortality rate among African-American men with lung cancer in the mid-1990s was nearly 50 percent higher than the rate for white men.

"The objective of NY-ELCAP is to save as many lives as possible," said Deputy Mayor for Planning, Education and Cultural Affairs Anthony P. Coles. "Over the past seven years Mayor Giuliani has made New York City a safer and more livable City, and with today's announcement he is working to make it an even healthier place to live, work, and raise a family."

Over the past two years, a team of researchers led by Claudia Henschke, M.D., Chief of the Chest Imaging Division at Weill Cornell Medical Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital conducted an initial test of the effectiveness of CT scanning in detecting early stage lung cancer in 1,000 smokers with ten-pack/year histories (e.g. ten years at one pack a day, or five years at two packs a day). In order to validate the preliminary results showing the efficacy of CT screening in early detection, Dr. Henschke and her colleagues at participating AMDeC research institutions will now replicate and significantly expand these screenings through the NY-ELCAP project.

NY-ELCAP will be conducted at eight of AMDeC's member institutions in New York City and at two additional medical institutions elsewhere in New York State. NY-ELCAP will provide a free CT screening to 10,000 individuals aged 60 or older who have a ten-pack/year history of cigarette smoking, no prior incidence of cancer, are fit to undergo thoracic surgery (if warranted) and are recommended by their physicians. Screenings will be conducted during the first year of the project, with analyses and results completed within two years of its inception.

Enrollment in NY-ELCAP already is underway at some of the participating institutions; most will be enrolling participants by October. Prospective participants can enroll by calling toll free, 1-888-NY-ELCAP (888-693-5227).

In addition to receiving a CT screening, all participants in the NY-ELCAP will be invited to participate in a comprehensive smoking cessation program. Any participant identified from the CT screening as having cancer will be referred immediately for follow-up medical consultation. Participants will be recruited through an intensive education campaign targeting smokers and alerting them to the potential benefits of screening, supplemented by messages about the dangers of smoking and the importance of quitting smoking.

"Collaborative research projects, like NY-ELCAP, enable researchers to cost-effectively study larger, more diverse populations, in varied settings," said Dr. Gotto, "A study of this import will accelerate the practical application of new technologies for the public benefit."

Formed two years ago, AMDeC was created to address several critical challenges related to the future of biomedical research in our state: attracting and maintaining quality faculty and research scientists, sharing expensive laboratory facilities, collaborating on mega-research projects, attracting new research funds from the National Institutes of Health and other sources, and maintaining and strengthening New York's preeminent position in the field of biomedical research.