According to the data which has been collected from participants in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), screening for Lung Cancer with low dose Computed tomography was found to be very beneficial in persons who have a high risk of morbidity due to cancer.
The screening prevented 88% deaths and these constituted 60% of the participants who were marked as persons who had a high probability of death due to Lung Cancer. These predictions were based on demographic and clinical risk factors for the disease.
According to Hormud A. Katki, PhD, from the division of cancer epidemiology and genetics at the National Cancer Institute, “The findings provide evidence for outside organizations who are interested in developing risk-based lung screening recommendations,”
Katki and associates published the results of the study in The New England Journal of Medicine. Lung cancer remains the most frequent cause of cancer related death in the US. Lung Cancer accounts for 25% of all the cancer deaths in US. An earlier study from NLST has confirmed that CT screening has reduced lung cancer death among one of the most susceptible section of the population to Lung cancer-The heavy smokers.
The purpose of the study was to decide which participant in the NLST will accrue the highest benefit from CT Screening. For this each NLST participant’s risk of lung cancer death was calculated and later the number of Lung cancer deaths prevented was also calculated from LDCT lung screening.
Smokers constituted the most vulnerable section of the society to Lung cancer. They were also the section which accrued the highest benefits from the CT screening.
