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Gregory J. Riely, MD, PhD
Gregory J. Riely, MD, PhD
Posted: Tuesday, December 13, 2022
During the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RNSA), researchers presented data on more than 87,000 participants enrolled in the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP) using low-dose CT for early detection of lung cancer. Diagnosing early-stage lung cancer via low-dose CT screening resulted in a 20-year survival rate of 80%.
“While screening doesn’t prevent cancers from occurring, it is an important tool in identifying lung cancers in their early stage, when they can be surgically removed,” said Claudia Henschke, PhD, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, in a press release. “The best way to find early-stage lung cancer is by enrolling in an annual screening program.”
Since its start in 1992, I-ELCAP has enrolled 87,416 participants, aged 40 and older, current, former, and never-smokers. The overall survival of the participants was 80%, and the survival rate for the 139 participants with nonsolid cancerous lung nodules and the 155 participants with nodules that had a partly solid consistency was 100 %. For the 991 participants with solid nodules, the survival rate was 73%. For patients with stage IA cancers of up to 10 mm, the 20-year survival rate was 92%.
This study confirms previous estimates of lung cancer survival rates and adds further evidence of the benefits of lung cancer diagnosed by screening. “Lung cancer consistency is an important predictor of survival and should be considered in updated staging criteria, as has already been accepted in the pathologic criteria,” stated the study authors.
Disclosure: Disclosure information for the authors was not provided.
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