Annual lung cancer CT screenings could improve patient's chance of survival, study finds
BOSTON - A new study finds that annual lung cancer screening could dramatically improve a patient's chances of survival.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. and more than half of patients will die within one year of diagnosis. That's because most lung cancers aren't diagnosed until symptoms appear when it's often too late for a cure.
But a large-scale 20-year international study of nearly 90,000 current smokers, former smokers, and people exposed to secondhand smoke has found that patients diagnosed with lung cancer by annual low-dose CT screening have a 20-year survival rate of 81%, as high as 95% if discovered in its earliest stages.
