Back pain as a lung cancer warning

I read Daniel Costello’s article regarding the difficulty in diagnosing lung cancer early [“When There’s No Early Warning,” April 11] with interest because of my father’s death from this disease four years ago.

My father (and several other lung cancer patients whom I’ve come in contact with) had unexplained back pain for some time before being diagnosed. Typically, a patient with back pain might see an orthopedist, and back problems apart from lung cancer certainly exist. Unfortunately, it was not until more than a year of seeing doctors that a CT scan was performed and lung cancer diagnosed.

Perhaps if someone had made the connection and suggested the possibility earlier, the lung cancer would have been caught at a more treatable stage.

Beth Sussman

Sherman Oaks