Lung Cancer Deaths can be Reduced by Screening

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has suggested that screening all smokers or ex-smokers can reduce the number of deaths due to lung cancer by more than 20 percent. The decade long National Lung Screening Trial included more than 53,000 people and was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

The researchers said that deaths by lung cancer can be prevented by the early detection of the disease though a number of health experts have questioned who should be screened and also the financial cost of such widespread screening.

Speaking to WebMD, the professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Medical School, Harold Sox said, “We now know that it is possible to reduce deaths from lung cancer with low-dose CT, and now we need to figure out what to do with this knowledge.”

Source-Medindia