New Study Finds CT Scans Reduce Lung Cancer Death by 20%
A large-scale, government-funded health study has found that current and former heavy smokers had their risk of lung cancer related death reduced by 20 percent after undergoing annual CT scans. Ancillary findings showed that the regular CT scans seemed to also lower the risk of death from other health concerns, probably because the CT scans were able to help doctors identify other health problems in early stages.
Over 53,000 elderly and middle-aged individuals were included in the study that has been highly anticipated in the medical community. The patients included in the study were either currently heavy smokers or had smoked heavily within the previous 15 years. Those who were screened every year with a low-dose helical computed tomography (CT) experienced 20% fewer deaths than the group who had undergone standard chest X-rays.
Because of the significance of the results, the sponsoring National Cancer Institute stopped the study early so that the findings could be released for the benefit of the patients and consumers.
According to current statistics, around 85 percent of lung cancer patients die from the disease, most often because it the disease is diagnosed too late for treatment. Roughly 157,000 people will die from lung cancer alone this year, a number greater than all the deaths from colorectal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers combined.
An additional finding of the study was that deaths in general declined by 7% in the study group who underwent the annual CT scanning. It's thought that the CT scans may have identified other life-threatening health concerns besides lung cancer.
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