Just a little more than a year ago, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study that showed lung cancer deaths could be significantly reduced when patients with heavy smoking histories but no symptoms received low-dose CT chest scans once a year over a three-year period. The study showed a 20 percent decrease in mortality in patients who received the CT scans compared to those who received chest X-rays. UTMB has introduced a new lung cancer screening program at both its Galveston and League City locations. The procedure is painless and takes less than a minute. "As a radiologist, my role in the lung cancer screening program is to make it painless, fast and diagnostic for our patients," said Dr. Eric Walser, director of interventional radiology and executive vice chair of radiology at UTMB.