Abstract
Lung cancer is the most frequently fatal cancer, with poor survival once the disease is advanced. Annual low dose computed tomography has shown a survival benefit in screening individuals at high risk for lung cancer. Based on the available evidence, the European Society of Radiology and the European Respiratory Society recommend lung cancer screening in comprehensive, quality-assured, longitudinal programmes within a clinical trial or in routine clinical practice at certified multidisciplinary medical centres. Minimum requirements include: standardised operating procedures for low dose image acquisition, computer-assisted nodule evaluation, and positive screening results and their management; inclusion/exclusion criteria; expectation management; and smoking cessation programmes. Further refinements are recommended to increase quality, outcome and cost-effectiveness of lung cancer screening: inclusion of risk models, reduction of effective radiation dose, computer-assisted volumetric measurements and assessment of comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and vascular calcification). All these requirements should be adjusted to the regional infrastructure and healthcare system, in order to exactly define eligibility using a risk model, nodule management and quality assurance plan. The establishment of a central registry, including biobank and image bank, and preferably on a European level, is strongly encouraged.
Abstract
The ESR/ERS provide new recommendations for lung cancer screening in this white paper http://ow.ly/KbUck
Footnotes
This is an official white paper of the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) published in European Radiology [DOI: 10.1007/s00330-015-3697-0] and the European Respiratory Journal [DOI: 10.1183/09031936.00033015]. It was approved by the ESR Executive Council in February 2015, and by the ERS Steering Committee on March 12, 2015.
Conflict of interest: Disclosures can be found alongside the online version of this article at erj.ersjournals.com
- Received February 27, 2014.
- Accepted March 3, 2015.
- Copyright ©ERS/ESR 2015.
This version is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence 4.0. This article is one of a small annual allocation selected for open access publication at the discretion of the editor.