American College of Chest Physicians Weighs In Against CT Screening for Lung Cancer

In several randomized trials, periodic screening with chest x-ray and sputum cytology did not reduce lung-cancer–specific mortality among smokers. Moreover, no randomized trials have determined whether low-dose computed tomography screening reduces lung-cancer specific mortality, although several such trials are in progress.

In a supplement in the journal Chest, researchers representing the American College of Chest Physicians have published a guideline on lung cancer screening that focuses on CT. Based on an analysis of tumor doubling times using data from observational screening studies, they believe that CT is likely to detect substantial numbers of indolent tumors. Because the clinical impact of early detection of such tumors remains unc…