HEALTH
Now, there's hope. In a paper published last week in the British journal Lancet, researchers showed that annual screening with a high-tech imaging technique called low-radiation-dose computed tomography—low-dose CT—detected cancer far earlier than a chest X-ray. The researchers looked at 1,000 men and women over 60 who had smoked at least a pack of cigarettes a day for 10 years. CT spotted suspicious nodules in 233 people; X-ray caught them in only 68. And CT found malignant tumors in 27 people compared with the four seen on X-rays. Even better, of the 27 malignancies, 26 were surgically removable.
Right now, the charge for a low-dose CT is about $300, twice as much as a chest X-ray, and they're not available at all hospitals. But if demand for CTs rises, the cost could come down as more facilities open. Those ugly numbers may yet turn around.
An Early Warning for Lung Cancer
Lung cancer has racked up some ugly statistics. Last year 160,000 died of the disease in the United States, and doctors diagnosed 178,000 new cases—miserable news since the five-year survival rate is only about 12 percent. Early detection improves those odds, but doctors have had little success at screening people. By the time a chest X-ray picks up a tumor, it's usually too late.
Newsweek, July 19, 1999
