Screening for lung cancer must wait for better evidence

doi:10.1136/bmj.334.7593.558-a

BMJ 2007;334:558 (17 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.334.7593.558-a

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Screening for lung cancer must wait for better evidence

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Screening for lung cancers with computed tomography (CT) remainsan experimental and unproved intervention that may do more harmthan good, says an editorial. There's no consistent evidencethat screening saves lives, even when offered only to heavysmokers. But it does increase the chance of invasive tests,biopsies, or even a resection. Mortality after lung resectionsis about 5% in the United States

The editorial's authors were commenting on a cohort study of3246 current or exsmokers who had at least three annual CT scans(pp 953-61). The scans detected three times as many cancersas would have been expected without screening (relative risk3.2, 95% CI 2.7 to 3.8), and resulted in 10 times as many resections(10.0, 8.2 to 11.9). But screening did not reduce the risk ofan advanced cancer and had no overall impact on mortality (1.0,0.7 to 1.3).

This kind of study . . . [Full text of this article]

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