HEALTH - CT Scans and Lung Cancer

"Research Shows CT Scans Can Reduce Lung Cancer Deaths"
PBS Newshour 11/5/010


"CT Scans Cut Lung Cancer Deaths, Study Finds" by GARDINER HARRIS, New York Times 11/4/2010

Excerpt

Annual CT scans of current and former heavy smokers reduced their risk of death from lung cancer by 20 percent, a huge government-financed study has found. Even more surprising, the scans seem to reduce the risks of death from other causes as well, suggesting that the scans could be catching other illnesses.

The findings represent an enormous advance in cancer detection that could potentially save thousands of lives annually, although at considerable expense. Lung cancer will claim about 157,000 lives this year, more than the deaths from colorectal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers combined. Most patients discover their disease too late for treatment, and 85 percent die from it.

No screening method had proved effective at reducing mortality from the disease. Four randomized controlled trials done during the 1970s showed that chest X-rays, while they helped catch cancers at an earlier stage, had no effect on overall death rates. Since then, researchers have suggested that CT scans — which use coordinated X-rays to provide three-dimensional views — could detect lung tumors at an even earlier stage than X-rays.

“This is the first time that we have seen clear evidence of a significant reduction in lung cancer mortality with a screening test in a randomized controlled trial,” said Dr. Christine Berg of the National Cancer Institute.

Cancer doctors and others predicted that the study’s results would soon lead to widespread use of CT scans, in particular for older smokers, who have a one in 10 chance of contracting lung cancer.

“These people are worried about lung cancer, and now there is an opportunity to offer them something,” said Dr. Mary Reid, an associate professor of oncology at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo.

But health officials involved in the study refused to endorse widespread screening of current or former smokers, saying more analysis of the study’s results is needed to further identify who benefited most. Such an analysis is months away. And they pointed out that the study offers no reassurance about the safety of smoking or the advisability of CT scans for younger smokers or nonsmokers.