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Lung Cancer Screenings
August 4, 2009 |
Screening. It’s a very important tool in detecting cancer.
Researchers are now taking things a step further, looking at how and when people
are screened and whether it impacts survival rates. “Preliminarily, the studies
that have come out now show that CT scan is better than chest x-ray” says Dr. Sunil
Pammi, a pulmonologist with Lee
Memorial Health System.
He says recent studies out
of Japan are raising some eyebrows when it comes to lung cancer in particular.
“Right now as it stands, we seem to think CT scans will be better those than chest
x-ray but that has to be done in consultation with a physician and see if that’s the best choice for a patient to be screened or not,” explains Dr. Pammi.
Japanese researchers looked at 2,000 lung cancer patients. Those whose cancer was
detected by CT scans had just over a 91% 5-year survival rate as opposed to almost
78% who had chest x-rays. “CT scans can find smaller lesions and thus, the smaller
lesion, generally the prognosis for the cancer, identifying earlier and treating
earlier can be a benefit to the patient.”
Since CT scans can pinpoint potential problems earlier and in more detail than x-rays,
for now, it’s considered the better method for detecting lung cancer. |
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