While a recent JAMA study has suggested that screening CT does not reduce mortality rates for lung cancer, Dr. Henschke disagrees. "The JAMA article was the first application of a newly developed computer model which predicted expected deaths from lung cancer, and there are numerous concerns about its validity," she said. "The main problem with that study is that it focused on too short a time period to assess the decrease in lung cancer deaths, which starts to be evident after the first five years of screening."

Dr. Henschke recommends that smokers and former smokers considering CT screening should talk to their physicians and, if they decide to be screened, go to an imaging facility with a multidisciplinary team of physicians knowledgeable and experienced in CT lung screening.


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Radiology is a monthly scientific journal devoted to clinical radiology and allied sciences. The journal is edited by Anthony V. Proto, M.D., School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va. Radiology is owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc. (RSNA.org/radiologyjnl)

The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) is an association of more than 40,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists committed to promoting excellence in radiology through education and by fostering research, with the ultimate goal of improving patient care. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)

Citation:
"Computed Tomography Screening for Lung Cancer: Diagnoses Resulting from NY-ELCAP." NY-ELCAP Investigators: Claudia I. Henschke (principal investigator), David F. Yankelevitz, and Dorothy I. McCauley (Weill Cornell Medical College); Matthew Rifkin and Edward S. Fiore (State University of New York at Stony Brook, NY); John H. M. Austin, Gregory D. N. Pearson, and Maria C. Shiau (Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY); Samuel Kopel (Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY); Donald Klippenstein, Alan Litwin, and Peter A. Loud (Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY); Leslie J. Kohman and Ernest M. Scalzetti (State University of New York, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY); Arfa Khan and Rakesh Shah (North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, New Hyde Park, NY); David S. Mendelson (Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY); Robert T. Heelan and Michelle S. Ginsberg (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY); Terence A. S. Matalon (New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY); and Peter H. Wiernik (Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center, Bronx, NY).

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