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Lung cancer is, by far, Canada's biggest cancer killer, claiming more than 20,200 lives annually.

It kills more people than breast, prostate and colorectal cancer combined and it is no coincidence that, unlike those high-profile cancers, there is no simple screening test to detect cancerous lung tumours.

Patients tend to be diagnosed when the disease is quite advanced, resulting in a dismal five-year survival rate of 15 per cent for lung cancer patients. By contrast, breast cancer, with mammograms and clinical breast exams that allow early detection, has a five-year survival rate of 87 per cent.

So today, Canadian researchers are launching a massive study to figure out if they can find a screening test - or combination of tests - that can detect lung cancer early.

"A screen needs to be simple, safe, accessible and affordable," Victor Ling, scientific director of the Terry Fox Research Institute, said in an interview. "We don't have that now."

Researchers with the TFRI and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer will recruit volunteers - long-time, current or former smokers - and subject them to a battery of tests that will include a questionnaire, a breathing test called spirometry, a blood test to look for biological and genetic markers, a bronchoscopy (in which a tube equipped with a blue light is snaked down the bronchial tubes) and a spiral CT scan of the lungs.

When cancerous tumours are detected using bronchoscopy or a CT scan, researchers will then review all the other non-invasive tests to determine if they provide clues to who is at the highest risk of lung cancer.

"Ultimately, we foresee the day when a simple blood test or breathing test can be used for screening," Dr. Ling said.

Screening is important because catching cancer early dramatically increases the odds of survival. When lung cancer is detected early, the five-year survival rate soars to 70 per cent.

Currently, though, early detection tends to occur largely by luck.

Ron Gabriel, a Toronto actor, was one of the lucky ones.

In September, 2006, he was reading his morning paper when he happened upon a story about a journalist who kicked a three-pack-a-day smoking habit. The columnist, Joe Fiorito of the Toronto Star, mentioned that he went to a clinic at Princess Margaret Hospital that offers screening for lung cancer and that other volunteers were needed.

"I figured that maybe this could be a way to do my little part for medical science," Mr. Gabriel said. He was a former smoker who quit when his twin boys were born 15 years ago.

Though he felt absolutely fine, the CT scan he underwent revealed a small tumour in his left lung, and the cancer was confirmed with a biopsy.

Mr. Gabriel, who is now 60, underwent surgery to remove the tumour on his lung, along with the excision of a kidney that was also cancerous (detected in follow-up testing). Because the cancer was at an early stage, he did not require radiation or chemotherapy.

"Today, I'm absolutely fine," Mr. Gabriel said. He is also a big booster of screening and urges all former smokers like himself to participate in the new research - for their own good as well as to help others.

"It's stupid not to do it," he said. "You shouldn't depend on luck of the draw to have your cancer detected early."

To be eligible for the study, a person has to be between 50 and 75 and have at least 10 "pack years" of smoking - a way of calculating how much a person has smoked over the years.

A pack year is the equivalent of smoking 20 cigarettes daily for one year. So, for example, a person who smoked 10 cigarettes a day for 20 years will have a 10-pack-year history.

Heidi Roberts, who leads the lung screening program at Princess Margaret, said the new study provides a unique opportunity for smokers in seven centres - Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, Quebec City and Halifax - to be tested and, if necessary, treated early.

"So many Canadians are at risk of lung cancer, and now they have the possibility to participate in this clinical study that can help them and many others in the future," she said.

Patients who would like to participate in the study can call 1-888-505-TFRI (8374).