Screening for lung cancer with helical chest CTs

Filed in archive Diagnostics on August 13, 2005

With the recent stories of lung cancer in the news (Peter Jennings and Dana Reeve), people are undergoing "screening" helical chest CTs looking for lung cancer:

If a simple, painless test can find the world's deadliest cancer when it is smaller than a pea - and such a test does indeed exist - shouldn't people who are most at risk have one? Surprisingly, the federal government, american cancer society and a raft of cancer specialists say the answer is "no."

They are waging an uphill battle as frightened current and former smokers rush to get a special kind of X-ray that other physicians are urging for lung cancer detection but that has not yet conclusively been shown to save lives.

A huge federal study is under way to see if it can, and answers may come as soon as next year. In the meantime, it's generating a classic "can't wait for science" stampede.

Currently, screening for lung cancer is not recommended by the USPSTF. Similar to whole-body CT scams, there is no data suggesting that lives are saved. Cancer screening is important, but only if the data supports it. Remember, more screening does not equal better health.