Radiologist consultation improves patients ' LCS attitudes

Consulting with a radiologist boosts patients' attitudes towards lung cancer screening (LCS) and their interest in quitting smoking, researchers have reported. A team led by Alex Thomas, a medical student at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, found that a short consultation between radiologists and patients -- during which the patient's LCS results were reviewed -- not only improved patients' understanding of the screening exam but also motivated them toward smoking cessation. The results were published April 17 in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology. "LCS using LDCT is a powerful tool in the fight against lung cancer and has been shown to significantly decrease lung cancer-related mortality," the team wrote, and noted that although radiologists are a key part of the lung cancer screening process due to their review and interpretation of images, "they do not routinely discuss findings from LDCT with patients … [and] could play an important role in such interactions with patients." Thomas and colleagues developed and tested a patient-radiologist consultation protocol for individuals scheduled for lung cancer screening (LCS), hypothesizing that the intervention would improve patients' attitudes both toward LCS and toward quitting smoking. The project included 38 patients who underwent LCS between June 2022 to August 2022; 33 of these were African American, a population that tends to be at higher risk of lung cancer. Of the study participants, 20 we...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: CT Chest Radiology Source Type: news