CT Screening for Lung Cancer: Does it Save Lives?

Monday, July 02, 2007

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Lung cancer kills more men and women than any another cancer — and there's no recommended routine screening for it.

Recent studies have raised questions about whether computerized tomography (CT) scans could benefit those at high risk for developing lung cancer. A CT scan is an X-ray technique that uses a computer to provide detailed images of internal organs.

Current smokers have the highest risk of lung cancer. Smoking causes about nine out of 10 lung cancers.

In an interview in the July issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource, David Midthun, M.D., a Mayo Clinic physician, says it's important to be wary of claims that CT scans improve survival for lung cancer patients.

"Screening will increase survival statistics just by moving up the date of lung cancer diagnosis and detecting more cancers," says Dr. Midthun, a researcher with a special interest in lung cancer screenings. "But screening may not lead to people living longer than they would have without screening or reduce their chance of dying of the disease."

In one recent study, investigators showed that CT lung scans detected three times as many cancers as expected, but also resulted in 10 times as many surgeries as expected, and did not reduce the number of people with advanced cancers or reduce the likelihood of deaths from lung cancer.

Several randomized controlled trials on CT screening for lung cancers are under way. Answers may be a few years away. For now, says Dr. Midthun, it's not known if CT screening for lung cancer is ineffective. "This scanning just hasn't been proven to reduce the likelihood of dying of lung cancer," he says.

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