Patients can go home just two days after surgery and generally only need acetominophen to control their discomfort, said D'Amico. With traditional surgery, hospital stays are typically seven to 10 days. Because it's less traumatic, patients who would not be candidates for traditional surgery for reasons other than their lung cancer status - age, health problems, etc. Dr. Thomas D'Amico said regular CTs are more thorough than spiral CTs, but they also cost three times as much, take more time and use more radiation. So if spiral CTs are found to be a comparable lump detection method, then they would be preferable.
Early results say that it appears to be very effective.
So good, in fact, that when comparing the number of people screened to the number of lung cancers found, spiral CT for lung cancer is better than mammograms for breast cancer and PSA levels for prostate cancer, he said. However, researchers say the accuracy doesn't make much difference if earlier detection of cancerous lumps in the lungs doesn't help a patient's prognosis. A recent study from Duke found no survival benefit by grouping tumors into sizes under three centimeters, but it remains to be seen whether finding even smaller tumors, such as with spiral CT, will benefit survival. For now, patients wanting spiral CT scans to screen for lung cancer can have them done at Duke, but insurance does not cover them.