Heavy smokers should get a low-dose chest CT once a year
Eligible heavy smokers who get a low-dose CT once a year have a 20% lower risk of dying from lung cancer and a 6.7% lower overall risk of death compared to those who only get regular chest X-rays. The trade-offs are extra follow-up tests after any suspicious findings and the resulting worry during the waiting period.
The test costs 200–400 yuan per session and takes just 10…
The NLST trial in the U.S. enrolled 53,454 participants aged 55–74 with at least 30 pack-years of smoking hist…
The test costs 200–400 yuan per session and takes just 10 minutes. You must also factor in follow-up tests after any false alarms, plus the anxiety that comes with waiting for results.
The NLST trial in the U.S. enrolled 53,454 participants aged 55–74 with at least 30 pack-years of smoking history and who had quit smoking no more than 15 years prior. Those who underwent low-dose CT had a 20.0% relative reduction in lung cancer deaths versus those who only got chest X-rays. The 95% confidence interval is 6.8–26.7. Overall mortality dropped by 6.7% relative to controls, with a 95% CI of 1.2–13.6.
National Lung Screening Trial Research Team (2011). Reduced Lung-Cancer Mortality with Low-Dose Computed Tomographic Screening. New England Journal of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1102873
Open source linkThis recommendation applies only to high-risk smokers. In the same study, 24.2% of CT recipients showed suspicious findings, yet 96.4% of those cases turned out to be false positives. For non-smokers, undergoing this test offers no benefit and only adds unnecessary anxiety.