page_title: Lung cancer screening
hierarchical_section_title: Lung cancer screening
caption_attribution_description: Carlos Jorge, Fort Sill Reynolds Army Community Hospital CAT scan technician, slides Spc. Lane Penn, Fort Sill WTU Soldier, into the entrance of the CAT scan machine. Kevin Young, Fort Sill Cannoneer. See more at Army.mil
context_page_description: Lung cancer screening refers to cancer screening strategies used to identify early lung cancers before they cause symptoms, at a point where they are more likely to be curable. More than 224,000 new cases of lung cancer are expected in the United States in 2016 with approximately 155,000 deaths expected in 2017. 57% were diagnosed in advanced stages where survival is poor. Screening research addresses potential differences in multiple parameters between groups of research subjects with and without screening. Because there is a substantially higher probability of long-term survival following treatment in localized than in advanced stage, the specific rationale of lung cancer screening is to diagnose the disease in stage I. Research parameters include population cancer-specific mortality, all-cause mortality, long-term survival following diagnosis of cancer, risks of screening and cost-effectiveness. Screening studies for lung cancer have only been done in high risk populations in the U.S., such as smokers and workers with occupational exposure to certain substances.
context_section_description: Lung cancer screening refers to cancer screening strategies used to identify early lung cancers before they cause symptoms, at a point where they are more likely to be curable. More than 224,000 new cases of lung cancer are expected in the United States  in 2016 with approximately 155,000 deaths expected in 2017. 57% were diagnosed in advanced stages (III and IV) where survival is poor. Screening research addresses potential differences in multiple parameters between groups of research subjects with and without screening. Because there is a substantially higher probability of long-term survival following treatment in localized (55%) than in advanced stage (5%), the specific rationale of lung cancer screening is to diagnose the disease in stage I. Research parameters include population cancer-specific mortality, all-cause mortality, long-term survival following diagnosis of cancer, risks of screening and cost-effectiveness. Screening studies for lung cancer have only been done in high risk populations in the U.S., such as smokers and workers with occupational exposure to certain substances.  Results from large randomized studies have recently prompted a large number of professional organizations and governmental agencies in the U.S. to now recommend lung cancer screening in select populations.
  CT screening has been associated with a high rate of falsely positive tests which may result in unneeded treatment. For each true positive scan there have been as many as 19 falsely positives scans. When screening is done in the context of a process of diagnostic tests, false positives have been reduced to approximately 12%. Other concerns include radiation exposure and the cost of testing along with the follow up of tests. Research has not found two other clinically available tests – sputum cytology or chest radiograph (CXR) screening tests — to reduce the overall number of people who die from lung cancer.
  Screening studies for lung cancer have only been done in high risk populations in the U.S., such as smokers and workers with occupational exposure to certain substances. In the 2010s recommendations by medical authorities are turning in favour of lung cancer screening, which is likely to become more widely available in the advanced economies.  Currently multiple professional organizations as well as the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) concur and endorse low-dose, computerized tomographic screening for individuals at high-risk of lung cancer.
caption: Computed tomography (CT) scanner, the usually recommended screening technique
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Carlos Jorge, Fort Sill Reynolds Army Community Hospital CAT scan technician, slides Spc. Lane Penn, Fort Sill WTU Soldier, into the entrance of the CAT scan machine. Kevin Young, Fort Sill Cannoneer", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "100", "Image YResolution": "100", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2008:11:07 08:12:19", "Image Artist": "Kevin Young", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "464", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1310", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5246", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1600", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:11:01 03:53:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:11:01 03:53:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "7", "EXIF ApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "2/3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "15", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0101", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1100", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "733", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1184", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "250400/71", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "666800/189", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Gamma": "11/5"}