Guidance Issued for Low-Dose Chest CT Screening for Lung Cancer

Seven graded recommendations and nine ungraded consensus statements developed for lung cancer screening

THURSDAY, Aug. 5, 2021 (HealthDay News) — In a guideline and expert panel report from the American College of Chest Physicians, published online July 13 in CHEST, recommendations are presented for low-dose chest computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer.

Peter J. Mazzone, M.D., M.P.H., from the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues updated the evidence base for the benefits, harms, and implementation of low-dose chest CT screening. Data from 75 additional studies were included. Seven graded recommendations and nine ungraded consensus statements were developed.

The authors recommend that annual screening with low-dose CT be offered to asymptomatic individuals aged 55 to 77 years who smoked 30 pack-years or more and either continue to smoke or have quit within the past 15 years (strong recommendation based on moderate-quality evidence). The authors recommend that low-dose CT screening should not be performed for individuals who have fewer than 30 pack-years of smoking or are younger than age 55 years or older than age 77 years, or who quit smoking more than 15 years ago and, based on clinical risk prediction calculators, do not have a high risk for having or developing lung cancer (strong recommendation based on moderate-quality evidence).

“Outlined in the recommendations is who should be screened and what that screening process should look like from the clinical side,” Mazzone said in a statement. “For an individual patient, these guidelines highlight the importance of education to foster informed, value-based decisions about whether to be screened.”

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)