Lung cancer detection via CT scan
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Among 484 asymptomatic individuals at risk for lung cancer who were diagnosed by low-dose CT in a study conducted from 1993 through 2005, the 10-year lung-cancer-specific survival rate was 80%. The study, published Oct. 26 in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed improved survival rates at 10 years in patients with clinical stage I lung cancer (88%), particularly those who underwent surgical resection within one month after diagnosis (92%). Currently in the U.S., 173,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year, and 164,000 (95%) die from the disease, the report observes. Rates of detection and cost-effectiveness are comparable to those associated with mammographic screening for breast cancer, according to the study...