Lung Cancer CT Scan in Newport Beach, Orange County

Among participants in the study who received a diagnosis of lung cancer based on spiral CT screening and a resulting biopsy, 85 percent had stage I lung cancer (412 of 484), and a statistically estimated 10-year survival among these patients was 88 percent. Among stage I patients who underwent surgery within one month of diagnosis, the estimated 10-year survival rate was 92 percent. Very few patients in the study, however, have been followed for 10 years.

Some researchers and members of the lung cancer advocacy community have suggested that the results represent a long-awaited breakthrough; others believe that the study, because it wasn't a randomized trial with an unscreened control arm, falls short of answering some critical questions.

The study was published in the October 26, 2006, New England Journal of Medicine (see the journal abstract).

The study - the International Early Lung Cancer Action Project (I-ELCAP) - involved 31,567 people without symptoms indicative of lung cancer but who were considered to be at increased risk for the disease. All participants underwent baseline screenings using spiral CT between 1993 and 2005. Based on specific protocols dictated by the baseline screening results, 27,456 patients underwent additional "annual" spiral CT screenings. Initially launched with a focus on current and former smokers in the United States, I-ELCAP was eventually expanded to include some international sites and a broader at-risk group, including people with heavy exposure to secondhand smoke or workplace contaminants linked to lung cancer, such as asbestos.

For more information regarding CT scans for the detection of lung cancer, please visit the National Cancer Institute information on lung screening.