Annual Screening May Be Adequate for Follow-up of Non-Solid Lung Nodules
By MedImaging International staff writers Posted on 06 Jul 2016 |
Image: A new study suggests an annual exam using CT imaging could spare patients with lung nodules from unnecessary tests and surgery, while identifying cases where the nodules are likely to become cancerous (Photo courtesy of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai).
Researchers have shown that an annual low-dose Computed-Tomography (CT) scan may be sufficient for follow-up for non-solid lung nodules.
Current follow-up procedures for Non-Solid Nodules (NSN) include biopsies or surgery. NSN are mostly asymptomatic lung growths and are only rarely life-threatening. The nodules are being found more frequently in the US because of recent national guidelines that recommend annual lung-cancer screening exams for longtime smokers.
The study was published on July 5, 2016, in the online issue of the journal Radiology. The researchers used data from the large-scale International Early Lung Cancer Program (I-ELCAP) and tried to validate findings from an earlier study with data from the US National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). The NLST trial compared lung cancer detection using chest X-Rays and low-dose CT.
The study included 26,722 participants. Only 48 of the participants died of lung cancer, while one or more NSNs were found in 9.4% or 2,534 of the participants. The findings could help prevent unnecessary biopsies and surgery for patients with NSNs.
Co-author of the study, Claudia I. Henschke, MD, PhD, Department of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital (ISMMS; New York, NK, USA), said, “When you biopsy a nonsolid nodule, it’s usually pre-malignant, noninvasive, or due to some other cause like infection or fibrosis. We think that we have enough data now to say that these nodules can safely be followed by annual CT scans and do not have to be biopsied or treated right away. Survival remains 100 percent as long as the nodules remain nonsolid, and for those that ultimately do progress, the one-year follow-up interval is short enough that they still remain entirely curable.”
Related Links:
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital
Current follow-up procedures for Non-Solid Nodules (NSN) include biopsies or surgery. NSN are mostly asymptomatic lung growths and are only rarely life-threatening. The nodules are being found more frequently in the US because of recent national guidelines that recommend annual lung-cancer screening exams for longtime smokers.
The study was published on July 5, 2016, in the online issue of the journal Radiology. The researchers used data from the large-scale International Early Lung Cancer Program (I-ELCAP) and tried to validate findings from an earlier study with data from the US National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). The NLST trial compared lung cancer detection using chest X-Rays and low-dose CT.
The study included 26,722 participants. Only 48 of the participants died of lung cancer, while one or more NSNs were found in 9.4% or 2,534 of the participants. The findings could help prevent unnecessary biopsies and surgery for patients with NSNs.
Co-author of the study, Claudia I. Henschke, MD, PhD, Department of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital (ISMMS; New York, NK, USA), said, “When you biopsy a nonsolid nodule, it’s usually pre-malignant, noninvasive, or due to some other cause like infection or fibrosis. We think that we have enough data now to say that these nodules can safely be followed by annual CT scans and do not have to be biopsied or treated right away. Survival remains 100 percent as long as the nodules remain nonsolid, and for those that ultimately do progress, the one-year follow-up interval is short enough that they still remain entirely curable.”
Related Links:
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital
Latest Radiography News
- Novel Breast Imaging System Proves As Effective As Mammography
- AI Assistance Improves Breast-Cancer Screening by Reducing False Positives
- AI Could Boost Clinical Adoption of Chest DDR
- 3D Mammography Almost Halves Breast Cancer Incidence between Two Screening Tests
- AI Model Predicts 5-Year Breast Cancer Risk from Mammograms
- Deep Learning Framework Detects Fractures in X-Ray Images With 99% Accuracy
- Direct AI-Based Medical X-Ray Imaging System a Paradigm-Shift from Conventional DR and CT
- Chest X-Ray AI Solution Automatically Identifies, Categorizes and Highlights Suspicious Areas
- AI Diagnoses Wrist Fractures As Well As Radiologists
- Annual Mammography Beginning At 40 Cuts Breast Cancer Mortality By 42%
- 3D Human GPS Powered By Light Paves Way for Radiation-Free Minimally-Invasive Surgery
- Novel AI Technology to Revolutionize Cancer Detection in Dense Breasts
- AI Solution Provides Radiologists with 'Second Pair' Of Eyes to Detect Breast Cancers
- AI Helps General Radiologists Achieve Specialist-Level Performance in Interpreting Mammograms
- Novel Imaging Technique Could Transform Breast Cancer Detection
- Computer Program Combines AI and Heat-Imaging Technology for Early Breast Cancer Detection