An estimated 228,000 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year alone. And about 160,000 will die of the disease.
As with other cancers, early detection is important for successful treatment. So researchers enrolled more than 50,000 people in a study to compare low-dose CT scans versus chest x-ray for finding abnormalities.
Participants were all heavy smokers. either current or within the previous 15 years. Half of the group was randomly assigned to undergo annual low-dose CT for 3 years and the other half received traditional radiography.
Lung cancer was diagnosed in 292 people in the CT group and 190 in the x-ray group.
Analysis showed that nearly all of that numerical difference was the result of CT scans catching many more early stage cancers.
The researchers say these findings confirm that using low-dose CT to screen for lung cancer can save lives.
I'm Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV, with the latest breakthroughs from the world of medicine.
Source: www.nlm.nih.gov
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