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Use of CT scans to detect lung cancer questioned

by Medindia Content Team on Feb 5 2003 3:58 PM

A new study by the researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore cautioned that Computed Tomography(CT) scans may not be valuable for mass screening for lung cancer. They claimed that the harm of unnecessary testing for lung nodules detected by the CT scan that turn out to be benign, and the costs of the scan far outweigh the number of lives saved by annual full-body CT screening.

Following this, the National Cancer Institute has begun an eight-year trial comparing CT scans with chest x-rays in the diagnosis of lung cancer. The study's senior author Neil R. Powe, MD, MPH, director of Johns Hopkins' Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research concluded that consumers may want to hold off the screenings until solid data is available. He also added that smoking cessation is the only proven, cost-effective method to reduce lung cancer risk.


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