Smoker's study screen lung cancer during screening

Smoker study: Discover lung cancer by screening earlier

09/15/2014

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Europe. About every two minutes last year, a citizen of the EU died as a result of lung cancer. According to a US study with 53,000 smokers, many human lives could be saved through screenings.

One cigarette pack per day for 30 years

According to a US study with 53,000 smokers, screening could detect lung cancer earlier and thus save many lives. As the „world“ reported, people had been searched for the study at least „30 Pack Years“, So thirty packet-years had succeeded. This means that those affected smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years or three packs a day for ten years. These people have significantly increased the risk of lung cancer through their tobacco consumption.

Study with 53,000 smokers

The study has now shown that it is helpful to examine people with high lung cancer risk regularly for the first signs of the disease. One of the reasons why bronchial carcinomas end so often is that they can not be discovered and treated in good time. John K. Field from „University of Liverpool Cancer Research Center“ reported in the magazine „Nature“, that the death rate of heavy smokers would decrease by 20 percent if they undergo regular screening on CT. The scientist led the study in the US, for which the participants had to present 30 so-called packet-years. The participating 53,000 smokers and former smokers were 55 to 74 years old.

Improved diagnosis rate through lung cancer screening

Half of the volunteers were therefore examined once a year in a spiral computer tomograph with low-dose radiation for changes in the lung. In the other half of the participants, the chest was x-rayed once a year, the usual method for examining lungs for changes. The subjects were followed after three of these rounds of screening for two to five years. It was found that 20 percent fewer people died in the CT group during this period than in the X-ray group. The images from the CT had been more accurate and the diagnostic rate thus higher. Study Director Field writes in the journal: „Every year that we are reluctant to use lung cancer screening in high-risk patients could cost tens of thousands of lives.“

In the EU, someone dies of lung cancer every two minutes

„About every two minutes in 2012, someone in the European Union (EU) died of lung cancer“, reports Professor Field in „Nature“. These 268,000 lung cancer deaths accounted for more than one fifth of all cancer deaths in the EU. At present, it is also being investigated in Europe whether screenings could help to reduce the number of deaths. For example, a study is being conducted at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany, in which 4,000 high-risk patients, smokers and former smokers are examined annually in low-dose CT for five years. As the head of the research group, Nikolaus Becker, explained, the results from the European countries should be evaluated together. So far, he is not convinced of the screenings.

More realistic assessment of misdiagnosis

Thus, the study from the US was not meaningful enough, because the subjects were not observed long enough. „In order to obtain clearer results, we do not examine the comparison group at all, instead of x-raying it“, Becker said „world“ according to, „We also study our subjects for five years and observe another five.“ The number of overdiagnoses can be estimated so realistic. It has been reported in the US in the past that lung abnormalities found in CT examinations did not appear to be a precursor to cancer in subsequent years in nearly a quarter of cases.

Screening causes high costs

Professor Field, however, resists criticism. Indeed, the number of false-positive findings is indeed high and there are often false alarms if only people with a very high lung cancer risk were tested. However, because screening in this group allows the detection of particularly many tumors in good time and thus prevents deaths, the damage caused by overdiagnosis is less significant. Because of the high cost of the investigation, people can only screen every two years on CT, but that is still meaningful. Unanswered questions for screening would excuse no inaction.

Stricter anti-smoking laws required

Considering that smoking is one of the skin risk factors for lung cancer and about 85 percent of illnesses are related to tobacco use, there is no excuse for staying idle in this area either. Despite the fact that quite a few things have changed in recent years, experts are calling for ever stricter anti-smoking laws both in Germany and around the world. This is not only because of the increased risk of various types of cancer, but also because smoking is considered to be a significant risk factor for numerous other diseases, such as smoker's or smoker's cough, asthma, chronic bronchitis and heart attack and stroke. (Ad)