New screening guidelines for lung cancer
New lung cancer screening guidelines.
The American College of Chest physicians has put out new guidelines to screen for lung cancer:
Some of the major recommendations include:
- For asymptomatic smokers and former smokers aged 55–77 years who have smoked ≥30 pack-years and either continue to smoke or have quit within the past 15 years, annual screening with low-dose CT should be offered.
- For asymptomatic smokers and former smokers who do not meet the smoking and age criteria in Recommendation #1 but are deemed to be at high risk of having/developing lung cancer based on clinical risk prediction calculators, low-dose CT screening should not be routinely performed.
- For individuals who have accumulated <30 pack-years of smoking or are aged <55 years or >77 years, or have quit smoking more than 15 years ago, and do not have a high risk of having/developing lung cancer based on clinical risk prediction calculators, low-dose CT screening should not be performed.
- For individuals with comorbidities that adversely influence their ability to tolerate the evaluation of screen-detected findings, or tolerate treatment of an early stage screen-detected lung cancer, or that substantially limit their life expectancy, low-dose CT screening should not be performed.