May eliminate the need
for biopsy or surgery
for biopsy or surgery
Annual low-dose CT scan may benefit patients with non-solid lung nodules
July 05, 2016
by Christina Hwang, Contributing Reporter
Having an annual low-dose CT exam may eliminate a patient’s need for a biopsy or surgery in non-solid lung nodules (NSNs), a new study from Mount Sinai has shown.
Non-solid lung nodules, usually an asymptomatic growth in the lung, have been more common ever since CMS updated guidelines regarding longtime smokers having an annual CT scan, according to the announcement.
In the study, the researchers examined data from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) – a trial that compared low-dose CT with chest X-ray for lung cancer detection) – in hope of finding the participants who had at least one non-solid lung nodule and then died from cancer.
From the 26,722 participants, 9.4 percent, or 2,534 had at least one NSN, and 48 of them had died of lung cancer. As long as an annual follow-up was conducted, the researchers saw that 27 of the 48 people did not die because of the NSN.
“The causes of death in this group were likely due to another solid or part-solid nodule in the same lobe of the lung,” said study lead author Rowena Yip, MPH, senior biostatistician at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in a statement. “In the one death related to a growing non-solid nodule, the time from prior CT to diagnosis was greater than three years.”
Some NSNs become solid, a change that is said to lead to a higher risk of being invasive cancer, and the researchers plan to study the part-solid nodules to learn more about the best intervals to screen patients.
In a previous study, Dr. Claudia I. Henschke, Ph.D., from the department of radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine, and co-author of the most recent study, had analyzed data from 57,000 people in the International Early Lung Cancer Program (I-ELCAP), and concluded that NSNs could be followed with annual CT scans. This current study was conducted to validate the I-ELCAP findings.
“We think that we have enough data now to say that these nodules can safely be followed by annual CT scans and do not have to be biopsied or treated right away,” Henschke said in a statement.
“Survival remains 100 percent as long as the nodules remain non-solid, and for those that ultimately do progress, the one-year follow-up interval is short enough that they still remain entirely curable," she said.
Non-solid lung nodules, usually an asymptomatic growth in the lung, have been more common ever since CMS updated guidelines regarding longtime smokers having an annual CT scan, according to the announcement.
In the study, the researchers examined data from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) – a trial that compared low-dose CT with chest X-ray for lung cancer detection) – in hope of finding the participants who had at least one non-solid lung nodule and then died from cancer.
From the 26,722 participants, 9.4 percent, or 2,534 had at least one NSN, and 48 of them had died of lung cancer. As long as an annual follow-up was conducted, the researchers saw that 27 of the 48 people did not die because of the NSN.
“The causes of death in this group were likely due to another solid or part-solid nodule in the same lobe of the lung,” said study lead author Rowena Yip, MPH, senior biostatistician at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in a statement. “In the one death related to a growing non-solid nodule, the time from prior CT to diagnosis was greater than three years.”
Some NSNs become solid, a change that is said to lead to a higher risk of being invasive cancer, and the researchers plan to study the part-solid nodules to learn more about the best intervals to screen patients.
In a previous study, Dr. Claudia I. Henschke, Ph.D., from the department of radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine, and co-author of the most recent study, had analyzed data from 57,000 people in the International Early Lung Cancer Program (I-ELCAP), and concluded that NSNs could be followed with annual CT scans. This current study was conducted to validate the I-ELCAP findings.
“We think that we have enough data now to say that these nodules can safely be followed by annual CT scans and do not have to be biopsied or treated right away,” Henschke said in a statement.
“Survival remains 100 percent as long as the nodules remain non-solid, and for those that ultimately do progress, the one-year follow-up interval is short enough that they still remain entirely curable," she said.