Lung Cancer Screening

Abstract

<jats:p>&lt;p&gt;Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Its overall poor prognosis is attributable to the fact that most patients&lt;br /&gt;remain asymptomatic until the disease is advanced and, therefore, present with late-stage incurable disease. e rationale for LC screening&lt;br /&gt;is that early detection of asymptomatic disease oers the opportunity for earlier intervention, at a stage when denitive cure is still feasible,&lt;br /&gt;which has the potential to reduce LC-related mortality and morbidity. e ndings of the National Lung Screening Trial provided the rst&lt;br /&gt;strong evidence in support of this rationale. Since its publication, several professional organisations and societies have developed guidelines&lt;br /&gt;recommending the implementation of LC screening with low-dose computed tomography in asymptomatic, high-risk individuals. Although&lt;br /&gt;the benets of such screening programmes may be signicant, they must be carefully weighed against the potential harms to the relatively large&lt;br /&gt;number of healthy individuals who would undergo screening. is review examines the available evidence and current recommendations for&lt;br /&gt;LC screening, including benets, potentials harms and requirements for implementation of a high-quality, safe and eective programme. In&lt;br /&gt;addition, the costs and availability of LC screening programmes in both the global and local settings are considered.&lt;/p&gt;</jats:p>