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CT screening for lung cancer is justified

Nature Clinical Practice Oncology volume 4, pages 440–441 (2007)Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 01 May 2008

Following a defined protocol of annual CT screening for lung cancer in the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP) collaboration between 1993 and 2005,1 31,567 people have undergone baseline screening and 27,456 people underwent repeated screening at an interval of 7–18 months. The protocol defined positive results of the initial CT for each round of screening and the recommended work-up of these positives to rule-in a diagnosis of lung cancer, separately for baseline and annual screenings.

The screenings resulted in the diagnosis of lung cancer in 484 participants, 405 of these diagnoses were as a result of baseline screening and 74 were as a result of annual screening; 5 participants had a symptom-prompted diagnosis before the first annual screening. The curability rate as estimated by the 10-year Kaplan–Meier survival rate was 80% (95% CI 74–85%) for all participants, including all stages and regardless of treatment.2 Among the 484 individuals with a diagnosis of lung cancer, 412 (85%) had clinical stage I disease, and their estimated curability rate was 88% (95% CI 84–91%), again regardless of treatment. For the 302 patients with clinical stage I lung cancer who underwent resection within 1 month, the estimated curability rate was 92% (95% CI 88–95%). The 8 participants with clinical stage I lung cancer who were not treated died of their lung cancer within 5 years.

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References

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Author notes

  1. Department of Radiology (Box 586), The New York Presbyterian Hospital–Weill Cornell Medical Center, 525 East 68th Street, New York, NY 10021, USA chensch@med.cornell.edu

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CI Henschke is Professor of Radiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and Chief of Thoracic Imaging at The New York Presbyterian Hospital–Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.,

    Claudia I Henschke

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  1. Claudia I Henschke
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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Henschke, C. CT screening for lung cancer is justified. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 4, 440–441 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncponc0852

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