New Jersey Multi-Specialty Clinic Announces New Tools in the Fight to HelpSmokers Keep New Year's Resolution
NEW YORK, Jan. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Historically, the New Year has been a time of stop smoking resolutions and experts say that smoking cessation attempts should hit a record high this New Year as millions of smokers celebrate a new millennium by starting out smoke-free.
Yet even with all of the enthusiasm surrounding January 2000, studies have universally shown that less than 10% of smokers attempting to quit on their own are successful, however, aggressive new medical therapies have recently helped quit rates climb to over 50%. "The good news is that we are winning the tobacco wars -- one smoker at a time," said Dr. Victor Marchione FCCP, a lung specialist and Medical Director of the Pavonia Medical Associates IQuit Smoking Program in Jersey City, NJ. I believe our treatment model will become the standard of care because what we are doing works."
The program at Pavonia Medical Associates is one of only several in the country aggressively treating tobacco addiction with a multi-phase program administered over several office visits. Pavonia's IQuit consists of an in-depth assessment of the smoker's tobacco addiction, use of nicotine replacement therapies in combination with the new smoking cessation drug, Zyban, intensive patient support and medical diagnostic testing. "Our program is based on the federal clinical treatment guidelines for smoking cessation," said Matthew Bars, M.S., Program Director of Pavonia's IQuit Smoking Program and a nationally recognized expert in the field of tobacco addiction. "We use medical tests to show the smoker how smoking has effected their health and as a early warning system to diagnos disease at an earlier, curable stage," Bars adds.
One such test is the LungCheck(R) Quantitative Sputum Cytology analysis, often described as a type of 'pap smear for the lungs.' Using state-of-the- art-technology, available only at the LungCheck approved laboratories, smokers got a visual representation of their pulmonary health. Results are reported in a proprietary graphic format called the 'Trend Cytogram' that shows a smoker where they are located on a continuum from normal lung health to cancer. "LungCheck can save lives by detecting disease at a stage where it is curable," said Dr. Marchione, "it also represents a powerful educational and motivational tool. Research and our own clinical experience have shown that LungCheck can double quit rates." LungCheck Health Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of BCAM International, Inc.
Dr. G. Berry Schumann, M.D., LungCheck's Medical Director and internationally recognized cytopathologist said, "LungCheck's advanced technology can detect precancerous lung abnormalities that are not visible on chest x-rays."
Lung cancer claims over 160,000 lives each year and all deaths from smoking exceed over 1,000 each and every day. While a third of all smokers try to stop smoking each year, 80% to 90% are unsuccessful. This New Year, smokers have new tools to make this quit attempt their last.
SOURCE Pavonia Medical Associates
CO: Pavonia Medical Associates; LungCheck Health Inc.
ST: New Jersey
IN: MTC HEA TOB
SU: PDT
01/03/2000 09:00 EST prnewswire.com
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