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Sept. 20, 2002 |
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Browse Archives n Lung n Breast n General n Prostate n Leukemia n Lymphoma n Colon n News/Issues |
NCI launches major screening study Washington, D.C. -- Sept. 20, 2002 -- The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has launched the largest lung cancer screening study it has ever undertaken. The researchers will enroll 50,000 current and former smokers in a comparison of conventional x-rays and spiral CT scans to determine which, if either, is more effective in reducing lung cancer deaths. The 8-year, $200 million trial will randomly assign participants through 30 centers nationwide to x-ray screening or spiral computed tomography (CT) scans once a year for three years. Researchers will then monitor participants' health annually until 2009. Dr. John K. Gohagan, chief of the Early Detection Research Group in NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention, is overseeing NLST for NCI. He says the trial is needed because there have been a lot of assumptions about the value of CT scans as a cancer detection tool because it is able to detect tumors well under 1 cm (.25 in) in size, while chest X-rays can detect only larger tumors, about 1 to 2 cm in size. "We know that spiral CT can detect smaller lung abnormalities, including cancers, than chest X-ray," Gohagan said in a prepared statement. "Finding and treating these smaller abnormalities may reduce lung cancer deaths. But it may not. It could turn out that screening with spiral CT will result in more intrusive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures without reducing lung cancer deaths. The answer to this question is the goal of NLST." Spiral CT uses x-rays to scan the entire chest in about 15 to 25 seconds, during a single breath hold. Throughout the procedure, the participant lies still on a table. The table and patient pass through the CT scanner, which is shaped like a donut with a large hole. The scanner rotates around the participant and a computer creates images from the scan, assembling them into a 3-D model of the lungs. More than half of U.S. hospitals own a spiral CT machine and routinely use them to determine how advanced a patient's cancer is after diagnosis. Some hospitals have recently begun performing spiral CT scans as a way of finding early lung cancer in smokers and former smokers-despite the lack of scientific evidence that this actually saves lives. Participants in NLST will receive lung cancer screenings free of charge. To qualify, participants must be current or former smokers ages 55 to 74; have never had lung cancer and have not had any cancer within the last five years (except some skin cancers or tumors that have not spread); are not currently enrolled in any other cancer screening or cancer prevention trial; and have not had a CT scan of the chest or lungs within the last 18 months. Participants who would like to quit smoking can receive referrals to smoking cessation programs.
For additional information about NLST: |
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