How many CT lung cancer screening patients return after the 1st scan?

Key evidence of CT lung cancer screening's effectiveness, and its sizeable mortality reduction, comes from the National Lung Screening Trial, which scanned eligible long-term smokers with CT for three years in a row in a search for suspicious nodules. But in the clinical setting, where lung cancer screening will be conducted going forward, how many patients will come back for the second annual round after a first, negative scan? Is there anything that can be done to reduce the rate of dropouts?

Researchers from the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, VT, looked at nearly 1,000 patients from their cohort of lung cancer screening subjects over the past three years. All subjects fulfilled criteria as high-risk individuals from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), and those with a suspicious finding were referred for a pulmonary consultation. To be considered compliant, a patient had to be no more than 90 days past due for their next recommended scan or clinical evaluation, according to study author Dr. Sama Alshora.

The researchers retrospectively assessed the rate of patient compliance with exam follow-up recommendations in their CT lung screening program. Compliance rates were assessed across multiple factors, including sex, age, smoking history, baseline exam result, and NCCN high-risk group status. Compliance lagged in nearly one-fifth of patients, they found.

"Adherence to follow-up recommendations in a clinical CT lung screening program is important for patients to realize the full benefit of screening," Alshora told AuntMinnie.com.