Lung Cancer Screening (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version

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Changes to This Summary (06/15/2017)

The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

Harms of Screening

Added text to state that the rates of potential screening harms can vary as lung cancer screening is implemented in a real-world setting; in one study, the authors examined the effects of introducing a low-dose helical computed tomography (LDCT) lung cancer screening program into selected Veterans Health Administration hospitals across the United States (cited Kinsinger et al. as reference 3). Also added text to state that in another study, 93,000 patients were assessed for eligibility to receive one round of LDCT screening: 4,246 patients met criteria; of those eligible, 58% of patients agreed to be screened; and 50% of patients actually underwent screening. The high rate of false-positive tests may be attributed to the Veterans Health Administration program’s definition of a positive screen, which used Fleischer Society guidelines for management of computer tomography-detected nodules, whereas the National Lung Screening Trial had an absolute cut-off of 4 mm to define a positive nodule (cited Moyer as reference 4 and MacMahon et al. as reference 5).

This summary is written and maintained by the PDQ Screening and Prevention Editorial Board, which is editorially independent of NCI. The summary reflects an independent review of the literature and does not represent a policy statement of NCI or NIH. More information about summary policies and the role of the PDQ Editorial Boards in maintaining the PDQ summaries can be found on the About This PDQ Summary and PDQ® - NCI's Comprehensive Cancer Database pages.

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