A routine lung cancer screening helped Louisville’s David Marshall catch cancer early and avoid major surgery. Learn why early detection can save lives.

Published: February 18, 2026

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Lung cancer often has no symptoms, but can be detected early

David Marshall of Louisville stopped smoking around five years ago after smoking two packs a day for more than 40 years. He had been for a lung cancer screening three times but skipped it in 2024. His primary care provider sent him right back in early 2025. The screening found a spot on his left lung.

“When I started screening, all the years I had smoked I figured it was going to be time to pay the piper. It wasn’t a great surprise, but I had no symptoms other than COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a disorder that causes airflow blockage and breathing-related issues].” David said. “I wasn’t overly apprehensive, because it was small and I didn’t want to worry too much.”

Many patients are not as fortunate.

“There are different kinds of lung cancer,” said Adam D. Lye, M.D., medical oncologist/hematologist with Norton Cancer Institute. “Some can only be treated with surgery. If the cancer has grown too much, surgery is no longer an option.

“The earlier you can catch a cancer, the more treatable it is.”

A bonus for David was that the spot on his lung could be removed through robotic-assisted surgery with the da Vinci Surgical System, meaning the procedure would be less invasive and have a faster recovery.

“Using robotic-assisted surgery, we were able to go in through several small incisions rather than completely opening the chest,” said George J. Mikos, M.D., thoracic surgeon with Norton Cardiothoracic Surgery. “That means going home faster and with less pain.”

For David, this meant getting back to his family faster.

“Doing the screening is important,” David said. “I am a perfect example. If I had gone to Stage 3 or 4 [cancer], I would have been finished. This was a lifesaving screening for me.”

Lung cancer screening

Screening uses a high-speed, low radiation CT scan that is painless and takes just a few minutes. The screening is available to patients who are at high risk and:

• Are ages 50 to 80
• Are a current smoker or quit within the past 15 years
• Have a smoking history of 20 pack-years (To determine pack-years, multiply typical packs per day by number of years. For example, two packs per day for 10 years is 20 pack-years.)

While lung cancer in its earlier stages often has no symptoms, there are signs to watch for. These include breathing difficulties, a cough that does not improve and coughing up blood. It’s always important to bring up any changes in health to your provider, no matter how small.