The RSNA will present the 2024 Alexander R. Margulis Award for Scientific Excellence to authors of the Radiology article, “A 20-year Follow-up of the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program [I-ELCAP].”
The annual award recognizes the best original scientific article published in RSNA’s flagship journal, Radiology.
The society said that the awarded research is the first study to report on 20-year lung cancer-specific survival for low-dose CT screening programs. Two decades after launch, I-ELCAP demonstrated a stable, long-term, lung cancer-specific survival rate for program participants. The study showed that patients diagnosed with lung cancer by low-dose CT screening have a 20-year survival rate of 80%.
Between 1992 and 2022, I-ELCAP enrolled more than 89,000 participants from over 80 institutions in North America, Europe, and Asia. The lead author of the study was Claudia I. Henschke, MD, PhD, director of the Early Lung and Cardiac Action Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
The researchers observed an 80% estimated cure rate based on the 20-year survival rate for all 1,257 participants diagnosed with lung cancer in the I-ELCAP program. In a subset of 181 participants who underwent surgery for the smallest size category of stage IA lung cancer (10 mm or less), the survival rate was 95%. For solid tumors, the 20-year survival rate was 83%, while for subsolid tumors, it was 100%.
The Margulis Award will be presented during RSNA 2024 in Chicago, IL, from December 1 to 5.
![Axial images from unenhanced calcium score cardiac CT (left) and curved planar reformation images from CT angiography (right) show that higher long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with greater coronary artery calcium and more obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Top row: Images in a 68-year-old male patient with higher 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (7.9 μg/m3 for particulate matter measuring ≤2.5 μm in diameter [PM2.5] and 17.4 parts per billion [ppb] for NO2) with extensive CAD (coronary artery calcium score [CACS] >1,000 and obstructive CAD [≥70% diameter stenosis]). Bottom row: Images in a 57-year-old female patient with lower 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (6.3 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 4.6 ppb for NO2) with no CAD (CACS = 0 and no obstructive stenosis).](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/06/hanneman.r6SMLzkezo.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
