An expert panel has released an updated lung cancer screening guideline that it developed under the auspices of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP). The document was published July 13 in the journal Chest.
The document recommends the following:
- Strong recommendation: Annual low-dose CT lung cancer screening should be offered to asymptomatic people between the ages of 55 and 77 who have smoked 30 pack years or more and either continue to smoke or have quit within the past 15 years.
- Strong recommendation: People who have fewer than 20 pack years of smoking, are younger than 50 or older than 80, and have quit smoking more than 15 years ago should not undergo CT lung cancer screening.
- Weak recommendation: Annual CT lung cancer screening should be offered to those asymptomatic people who do not meet the above smoking/age criteria, are between 50 and 80, have smoked 20 packs years or more and continue to smoke, or have quit within the past 15 years.
- Weak recommendation: Annual CT lung cancer screening should be offered to those who do not meet the smoking/age criteria in the above recommendations but would be considered to have a high benefit from screening due to clinical risk predictions and life expectancy estimates.
"Evidence suggests that low-dose CT screening for lung cancer can result in a favorable balance of benefit and harms," the group wrote. "The selection of screen-eligible individuals, the quality of imaging and image interpretation, the management of screen-detected findings, and the effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions, can impact this balance."
