Early detection is the mantra of modern cancer care.
And sometimes it's a mirage. Men screened three times a year were no more likely to be alive at the end of the study than those who had them once a year or less often, the researchers say. Frequent chest exams should in theory catch lung cancers when they're smaller and less likely to have spread. Lung cancer is the nation's leading cancer killer, estimated to strike 177,000 Americans in 2000. Some 160,000 will die from the disease this year.