Lung cancer CT screening is cost-effective but implementation matters

Commentary on: Black WC, Gareen IF, Soneji SS, et al.; National Lung Screening Trial Research Team. Cost-effectiveness of CT screening in the National Lung Screening Trial. N Engl J Med 2014;37:1793–802. Context The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) revealed a 20% reduction in lung cancer mortality from three annual low-dose CT screening scans compared with chest radiographs in high-risk individuals.1 Since up to 10 million individuals in the USA may qualify for annual CT screening, policymakers have legitimately questioned whether the benefits of lung cancer screening justify the potential high costs of large-scale screening implementation. To assess the value of CT screening, Black et al conducted a trial-based cost-effectiveness analysis using the NLST data. Methods This trial-based cost-effectiveness analysis compared life expectancy, quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) and lifetime costs for three strategies: (1) annual CT screening for 3 years; (2) annual chest X-ray screening...

Source: Evidence-Based Medicine - March 17, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Goulart, B. Tags: Smoking and tobacco, Health policy, Epidemiologic studies, Stroke, Screening (oncology), Radiology, Clinical diagnostic tests, Radiology (diagnostics), Screening (epidemiology), Health economics, Health service research, Health education, Screening (publi Source Type: research