If you're a heavy smoker or know one, lung cancer might be something that concerns you. It claims more lives than any other type of cancer both in Bermuda and the US.Part of the reason it is so deadly is that there's been no reliable screening technique. Body & Soul reported last year that published research on the National Lung Screening Tria showed some promise with CT scanning.In light of those findings the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts is now offering free CT scan screening to those at highest risk for the disease.Pulmonary disease and sleep medicine specialist David Neumeyer made the announcement to local physicians last week at an event sponsored by the Brown-Darrell Clinic and Bermuda HealthCare Services.He's been with the Lahey Clinic for 15 years and said the move fits with the organisation's aim to help prevent disease.“Lahey has implemented free lung cancer screening protocol to anyone who is an active smoker or who has a history of smoking. Other healthcare systems are starting to implement the same,” he told Body & Soul:“There is a huge treatment cost and whether the screening turns out to be cost-effective, I don't know. I don't know the overall cost analysis.”The programme would be free to Bermudians who fit the high-risk criteria, he confirmed.The scans are not done on a walk-in basis. Interested people would first have to make an appointment with the Lahey Clinic.“I would suggest people first go to our website and then contact our international executive office to help facilitate things,” said Dr Neumeyer, who has done many CT scans to screen for lung cancer since the findings of the National Lung Screening Trial were published in June 2011.He admitted that a high level of false-positive readings tend to occur (96 percent in the actual trial), and could very quickly be discounted.“A CT screening will show everything. We will recognise some things right away as something else,” he said. “In other words, not all the false positives will have to be acted on.“Many false positives are followed radiographically over time. Not all require aggressive intervention. Not all have to be biopsied.”One of the primary reasons lung cancer is so deadly is that it tends to be recognised in its later stages. The buzz around CT scan screening for it, is that if the cancer is detected in its early stages it can be effectively treated. And effectively treating lung cancer could save a significant number of lives in the US every year.Eighteen people die every hour from lung cancer in the US. The numbers are not as staggering here.Body & Soul was unable to get the actual number of people who died from the disease in Bermuda last year, but 17 new cases were diagnosed and reported to the tumour registry.In 2009, the most recent statistics available, lung cancer accounted for 21.7 percent of cancer deaths in Bermuda. In the US, 2007 statistics show it accounting for 29 percent of cancer deaths.Dr Neumeyer told physicians here that 320 people have to be screened in order to avoid one death and even then the prognosis is not great. Only 15 percent of lung cancer patients survive five years after the diagnosis.Local physician Roger Wong questioned whether CT scanning for early detection of lung cancer was then practical for Bermuda given our small size, especially when combined with the bleak survival rate.In Bermuda a cost for CT scan screening for lung cancer has not been determined. It is not listed in this years' hospitals fees regulations.According to Dr Neumeyer, at the Layhey Clinic it runs in the region of $300.Dr Ewart Brown, Founder and Chairman of the Brown Darrell Clinic said: “We have never set a price for a screening scan because we have never done the screening. Most local doctors ask for a full lung scan and that's what we provide. “In Bermuda a full CT scan of the lung costs in the region of $1,500.