Murray, a 67-year-old Vancouver resident, believes participating in a CCS-funded study saved his life. Thanks to the work of Dr Renelle Myers and Dr Rayjean Hung, Murray was diagnosed and treated for lung cancer much earlier than he would have been if they’d used standard screening protocols.
“Today, I am 100% recovered,” says Murray. “For me, bouncing back was easy because this was caught so early. I am so grateful this is in the rear-view mirror.”
Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canada and the leading cause of cancer death. When lung cancer is detected and treated early, over 80% of people survive five years or longer – but, without screening, that rate drops to just 19%. Dr Myers, Dr Hung and their colleagues want to make sure as many people as possible are in that first group.
That’s why, in 2021, Dr Myers began her CCS-funded research with a grant to study breath and sweat tests for lung cancer. By analyzing the chemical composition of breath, she and her colleagues were able to spot changes that signalled the presence of cancer.
Building on that early work, Dr Myers and Dr Hung received a Breakthrough Team Grant in 2023 to tackle lung cancer diagnosis from all sides. With support from CCS and the Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundation, they brought together a team of around 20 researchers, patient partners and knowledge users across Canada to improve early lung cancer detection.
Using AI, the researchers are working on markers in the breath and blood that can flag potential lung cancer before people show any symptoms. At the same time, they have developed an AI-assisted tool to help determine whether incidental pulmonary nodules – lung growths seen on scans taken for other reasons – are cancerous or not.
The researchers now have breath-testing devices in place at three clinics across Canada, with about 800 people enrolled in testing. Their new process for analyzing CT scans is also in use via the IDEAL (Improving Detection of EArly Lung Cancer in a Diverse Population) clinical trial. So far, the process has detected lung cancer in 4% of participants – double the rate detected by standard screening.
“The majority of our participants are not eligible for lung cancer screening because they are not tobacco users,” Dr Myers explains. “This is exciting and demonstrates that it is important to have concurrent screening and incidental pulmonary nodule programs to expand the reach of early lung cancer detection.”
The next step for Dr Myers, Dr Hung and their team is to roll out their new pulmonary nodule clinics at three sites across Canada. These clinics are designed to care for people who have had lung growths found incidentally on CT scans.
“This is true research translation – using the results and knowledge gained through the study to create a real clinical pathway that will alter patient care for the better,” Dr Myers says. “This is the ultimate success in research.”
Today, Murray says he is 100% recovered and back to activities like cycling. “This has been almost off my radar because the team took such great care of me start to finish,” he says. “I couldn’t ask for a better outcome. Having Dr Myers’s team find my scan and detect my cancer as early as possible was life-saving.”