Lung cancer screening can pave the way for COVID-19 recovery

RESOURCES FOR THOSE IMPACTED BY COVID-19

Due to COVID-19, many businesses have experienced financial strain, forcing them to limit operations, furlough or lay off staff or even close completely. If you’re one of the majority of Americans who has been receiving health insurance through your employer, it can be daunting to figure out what to do next. Fortunately, there are options. New coronavirus resources are available through healthcare.gov for those seeking new or alternative health insurance coverage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The site is a single source of information on purchasing an insurance plan on the marketplace, continuing prior employer-sponsored coverage through COBRA, or getting help with premiums if you’ve lost your employer-sponsored coverage or have had a significant change in income. Remember, losing your job is a qualifying life event, so you can enroll in your spouse’s employersponsored plan or purchase a plan on the marketplace even if it’s not an open enrollment period. There are also many organizations that have financial resources available to assist with care, including mental health appointments and access to certain medications. Testing for COVID-19 is completely covered, regardless of insurance status, under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was passed by Congress in March.

LUNG CANCER SCREENING CAN PAVE THE WAY FOR COVID-19 RECOVERY

By David Yankelevitz, M.D. Dr. David Yankelevitz is a Professor of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. COVID-19, a disease which primarily affects the respiratory system, has become a global pandemic. While some people experience only mild symptoms (or no symptoms at all), for others, infection is devastating and leads to serious illness or death. When we look at other respiratory illnesses, like lung cancer, it’s clear that CT imaging is an integral tool for early diagnoses and treatment monitoring—but how can we use this tool to diagnose or treat COVID-19 and save lives? Computerized assessments of CT scans—more accurate and less time-consuming than radiologist evaluation— have become the gold standard for lung cancer, emphysema, COPD and more. Early experience using this type of advanced image processing for patients with COVID-19 seems promising. But to validate and implement the necessary software tools, we’ll need large databases of lung images for patients with documented cases of COVID-19.

That’s why we are so grateful to the Prevent Cancer Foundation® for providing a $40,000 startup grant to the Early Lung Cancer Action Project (ELCAP) program at Mount Sinai. Dr. Claudia Henschke and I are leading the effort to develop a database of COVID-19 CT images. Our goal is to create a common, openly accessible database with images from around the world that will allow software developers to test solutions for diagnosing and treating COVID-19. The database will be rapidly available so that we can immediately make a unique contribution to the global problem of COVID-19.