CT Lung Screening
CT Lung Screening: Frequently Asked Questions
STUDY: CT Scans can help lung cancer battle
More people die from lung cancer in the US than from breast cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer combined. This year alone more than 160,000 Americans will die from this disease. Dramatic findings, published in the July 10th issue of The Lancet, show that low-dose CT (low radiation dose computed tomography) can find lung tumors long before they appear on traditional chest x-rays. Since lung tumors are usually the size of an orange by the time they're discovered on X-ray the cure rate is extremely low. However with earlier detection, many early-stage lung cancers now visible on CT are more readily visualized and therefore more treatable.
Low-Dose Screening CT, presently being evaluated by many sites across the country is intended to supplement or replace routine chest x-rays which are performed on patients without symptoms or known disease. Just as screening mammography changed the prognosis for breast cancer, CT screening for lung cancer may offer similar benefits. Like screening mammography, it is essential to minimize the amount of radiation exposure in people with no symptoms. The test is specifically designed to rapidly screen the lungs with minimal radiation exposure, producing high resolution images to allow detection of pulmonary nodules. It is neither designed nor intended to screen for abnormalities elsewhere in the thorax (i.e.- heart, aorta, lymph nodes, bones). The procedure takes under a minute and no intravenous contrast is used.
The use of low-dose spiral CT as a screening tool for the early detection of lung cancer is still relatively new in the U.S., and it has not yet been proven to decrease the death rate from lung cancer. However, the overall five-year survival rate for patients whose lung cancer is found early and when it is still localized (i.e., before it has spread to other organs) is nearly 50%.
The National Cancer Institute is presently designing a large, nationwide study that will assist researchers determine if spiral CT does, indeed, reduce lung cancer mortality. To find out more about the NCI study, visit their web site at www.cancer.gov.
Patients who may be at high risk for lung cancer from smoking, second-hand smoke exposure, or environmental exposure etc. should talk with their doctors about the benefits of a lung screening examination.
Please see CT Lung Screening-FAQ’s for more information.
