new lung cancer

Results from the National Lung Screening Trial of more than 50,000 people at high risk for lung cancer showed that patients who undergo screening with helical low-dose CT scanning are less likely to die from lung cancer. NLST compared low-dose CT screening against screening with chest radiography. From August 2002 through September 2007, researchers assigned 26,722 people to CT screening and another 26,732 to radiography. Participants underwent three screenings at 1-year intervals (T0, T1 and T2). Eligible participants were between 55 and 74 years of age at the time of randomization, had a history of cigarette smoking of at least 30 pack-years and, if they were former smokers, had quit within the previous 15 years. Anyone who had been previously diagnosed with lung cancer, undergone chest CT within 18 months before enrollment, had hemoptysis, or had an unexplained weight loss of more than 15 lb in the preceding year were excluded. The disease-specific death rate was 247 per 100,000 pe

For the first time, people at high risk for lung cancer will have access to screening that uses computed tomography (CT) scans. Preliminary results from the National Lung Screening Trial, released in November 2010, showed that among people at high risk for lung cancer, those who were screened with low-dose spiral CT scans showed a 20 percent reduction in lung-cancer-related mortality compared to those who were screened with standard chest x-rays. The trial, which Duke did not participate in, included 53,000 participants ages 55 to 74 who were current and former heavy smokers. “Once those results are published, it will be the first U.S. trial to show in a randomized fashion a benefit from screening people at high risk for lung cancer with low-dose CT scans,” says thoracic surgeon Thomas D’Amico, MD. “Before, CT screening was not thought to be effective. This is an important advance.” Published results will likely result in third-party payers such as insurance companies and Medicare cov

Following Wednesday’s release of comprehensive data from the National Lung Screening Trial, which demonstrated a 20 percent reduction in lung cancer mortality resulting from CT screening, MD Anderson Cancer Center publicized its aims to begin implementing lung screening for heavy smokers—without reimbursement from payors. Part of the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston becomes one of the first major providers to adopt CT screening for lung cancer, after having contributed 780 patients to the National Cancer Institute’s National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). This week, investigators from half-a-dozen NLST participating sites published an updated and more extensive analysis of the NLST’s November findings in the New England Journal of Medicine . The trial revealed that low-dose lung CT dramatically lowered lung cancer mortality compared with standard x-rays, with the results dramatic enough to spur the National Cancer Institute to cut short its multi-institution st