--- title: Low Dose Chest CT Screening and Lung Cancer description: "The problem: The American Cancer Society (ASC) estimates there will be 222,520 new cases of lung cancer this year alone. These new cases account f" image: https://info.shields.com/hs-fs/file-13766601-jpg/images/f--hubspot-siemens_ct_horz.jpg --- Select Language Afrikaans Albanian Amharic Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bengali Bosnian Bulgarian Catalan Cebuano Chichewa Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Corsican Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Esperanto Estonian Filipino Finnish French Frisian Galician Georgian German Greek Gujarati Haitian Creole Hausa Hawaiian Hebrew Hindi Hmong Hungarian Icelandic Igbo Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Javanese Kannada Kazakh Khmer Korean Kurdish (Kurmanji) Kyrgyz Lao Latin Latvian Lithuanian Luxembourgish Macedonian Malagasy Malay Malayalam Maltese Maori Marathi Mongolian Myanmar (Burmese) Nepali Norwegian Pashto Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Samoan Scottish Gaelic Serbian Sesotho Shona Sindhi Sinhala SlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSudaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseWelshXhosaYiddishYorubaZulu Search for: [![Shields Health Care Group](https://info.shields.com/hubfs/Shields_February2019/Images/logo_main.png) ](https://shields.com/) Select Language Afrikaans Albanian Amharic Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bengali Bosnian Bulgarian Catalan Cebuano Chichewa Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Corsican Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Esperanto Estonian Filipino Finnish French Frisian Galician Georgian German Greek Gujarati Haitian Creole Hausa Hawaiian Hebrew Hindi Hmong Hungarian Icelandic Igbo Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Javanese Kannada Kazakh Khmer Korean Kurdish (Kurmanji) Kyrgyz Lao Latin Latvian Lithuanian Luxembourgish Macedonian Malagasy Malay Malayalam Maltese Maori Marathi Mongolian Myanmar (Burmese) Nepali Norwegian Pashto Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Samoan Scottish Gaelic Serbian Sesotho Shona Sindhi Sinhala SlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSudaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseWelshXhosaYiddishYorubaZulu # Low Dose Chest CT Screening and Lung Cancer 11.05.10 **The problem:** The American Cancer Society (ASC) estimates there will be 222,520 new cases of lung cancer this year alone. These new cases account for 15%+/- of cancer diagnoses annually. In the United States, lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer related deaths for both men and women with cigarette smoking being the number one cause for developing lung cancer. **Screening for Lung Cancer: ** Based upon the findings of a study from the National Lung ![F HUBSPOT siemens CT horz](https://info.shields.com/hs-fs/file-13766601-jpg/images/f--hubspot-siemens_ct_horz.jpg)Screening Trial (NLST), CT screening for lung cancer had been shown to be effective in reducing mortality from lung cancer. Since 2002, 53,000 men and women with at least a 30 “pack year” history of smoking were enrolled in the trial. Patients were randomly assigned to annual screening with either a low-dose (i.e., less radiation) CT scan or routine chest X-ray. The results demonstrate that annual screening with low-dose chest CT in heavy smokers, past or present, is far superior to conventional x-ray screening in detecting lung cancer and resulted in 20% fewer deaths from lung cancer. The findings were so impressive that the study was halted prematurely. An additional benefit of the study was a ***7% reduction in all causes of death in patients screened with low dose chest CT***. More detailed information can be found on the National Cancer Institute website: [www.cancer.gov](http://www.cancer.gov/) . While it is clear from the NLST study that screening former and current heavy smokers increases survival from lung cancer, it remains unclear if light or moderate smokers will achieve similar benefits from CT screening. The cost of a low-dose chest CT is approximately $350-450 at an out-patient imaging facility and the radiation dose is similar to that of a mammogram. ** ** **Conclusion:** This is a promising development. It is now clear low dose chest CT screening will play a vital role in the fight against lung cancer. Yet the most important step any of us can take in the battle against lung cancer is to quit smoking or never start smoking. Although quitting smoking reduces but does not eliminate the risk of developing lung cancer it is a critical step. For those who have previously had lung cancer, quitting smoking reduces the risk of developing a second lung cancer. Clearly, the benefits of low-dose chest CT screening for  diagnosing a treatable lung cancer outweigh the risks associated with radiation exposure for heavy smokers.  But the best thing you can do in the fight against lung cancer is to quit smoking or never start. For those who need help to quit smoking contact your primary care physician or check some online resources such as:   [www.smokefree.gov](http://www.smokegree.gov/); and the American Cancer Society [www.cancer.org](http://www.cancer.org/). ### Archives - [August 2010 (10)](https://info.shields.com/archive/2010/08) - [September 2010 (8)](https://info.shields.com/archive/2010/09) - [November 2010 (4)](https://info.shields.com/archive/2010/11) - [October 2010 (3)](https://info.shields.com/archive/2010/10) - [December 2012 (2)](https://info.shields.com/archive/2012/12) ### Latest Posts ### Posts by Category - [MRI (40)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mri) - [Shields MRI (20)](https://info.shields.com/topic/shields-mri) - [PET/CT (19)](https://info.shields.com/topic/petct) - [sports (15)](https://info.shields.com/topic/sports) - [radiology (14)](https://info.shields.com/topic/radiology) - [MR (11)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mr) - [Shields (11)](https://info.shields.com/topic/shields) - [cost (10)](https://info.shields.com/topic/cost) - [imaging (10)](https://info.shields.com/topic/imaging) - [breast MRI (9)](https://info.shields.com/topic/breast-mri) - [cancer (9)](https://info.shields.com/topic/cancer) - [prostate (9)](https://info.shields.com/topic/prostate) - [breast cancer (7)](https://info.shields.com/topic/breast-cancer) - [diagnostic (7)](https://info.shields.com/topic/diagnostic) - [CAT (6)](https://info.shields.com/topic/cat) - [health premiums (6)](https://info.shields.com/topic/health-premiums) - [mammogram (6)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mammogram) - [shields prostate mri (6)](https://info.shields.com/topic/shields-prostate-mri) - [1.5T (5)](https://info.shields.com/topic/15t) - [Breast screening, (5)](https://info.shields.com/topic/breast-screening) - [HR Directors (5)](https://info.shields.com/topic/hr-directors) - [claustrophobia (5)](https://info.shields.com/topic/claustrophobia) - [concussion (5)](https://info.shields.com/topic/concussion) - [copays (5)](https://info.shields.com/topic/copays) - [healthcare expenses (5)](https://info.shields.com/topic/healthcare-expenses) - [mammography (5)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mammography) - [medical imaging (5)](https://info.shields.com/topic/medical-imaging) - [open MRI (5)](https://info.shields.com/topic/open-mri) - [safety (5)](https://info.shields.com/topic/safety) - [HR (4)](https://info.shields.com/topic/hr) - [PET (4)](https://info.shields.com/topic/pet) - [back mri (4)](https://info.shields.com/topic/back-mri) - [computed tomography (4)](https://info.shields.com/topic/computed-tomography) - [head injury (4)](https://info.shields.com/topic/head-injury) - [health care dollars (4)](https://info.shields.com/topic/health-care-dollars) - [health insurer (4)](https://info.shields.com/topic/health-insurer) - [mammo (4)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mammo) - [manogram (4)](https://info.shields.com/topic/manogram) - [1.5T MRI (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/15t-mri) - [3T (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/3t) - [MR arthrogram (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mr-arthrogram) - [MRI Costs (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mri-costs) - [MRI centers (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mri-centers) - [MRI cost (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mri-cost) - [arthrogram (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/arthrogram) - [back pain (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/back-pain) - [brain MRI (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/brain-mri) - [high-deductible health plan (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/high-deductible-health-plan) - [image (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/image) - [lung cancer (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/lung-cancer) - [open-bore MRI (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/open-bore-mri) - [price (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/price) - [radiation (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/radiation) - [shoulder (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/shoulder) - [tear (3)](https://info.shields.com/topic/tear) - [Boston Marathon (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/boston-marathon) - [Brain (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/brain) - [HDHP (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/hdhp) - [Pedroia injury (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/pedroia-injury) - [Shields family (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/shields-family) - [TBI (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/tbi) - [ankle mri (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/ankle-mri) - [breast cancer awareness (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/breast-cancer-awareness) - [breast cancer screening (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/breast-cancer-screening) - [cardiac (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/cardiac) - [cardiac MRI (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/cardiac-mri) - [child MRI (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/child-mri) - [employees (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/employees) - [foot MRI (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/foot-mri) - [foot injury (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/foot-injury) - [gadolinium (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/gadolinium) - [hand (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/hand) - [health care premiums (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/health-care-premiums) - [health care shopping (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/health-care-shopping) - [neck mri (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/neck-mri) - [neck pain (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/neck-pain) - [out of pocket (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/out-of-pocket) - [pediatric MRI (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/pediatric-mri) - [scan (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/scan) - [scan band (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/scan-band) - [scan time (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/scan-time) - [spine (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/spine) - [transparency (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/transparency) - [traumatic brain injury (2)](https://info.shields.com/topic/traumatic-brain-injury) - [AI technology (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/ai-technology) - [Crohn's (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/crohns) - [Dr. Michael Curran (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/dr-michael-curran) - [Greater Boston Urology (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/greater-boston-urology) - [MR enterogram (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mr-enterogram) - [MR enterography (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mr-enterography) - [MRI danger (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mri-danger) - [MRI savings (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mri-savings) - [Movies (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/movies) - [Tom Hardy (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/tom-hardy) - [achilles tendon (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/achilles-tendon) - [ankle injry (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/ankle-injry) - [ankle sprain (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/ankle-sprain) - [arrhythmia (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/arrhythmia) - [arthritis (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/arthritis) - [arthritis in hip mri (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/arthritis-in-hip-mri) - [axumin (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/axumin) - [giving (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/giving) - [hip mri (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/hip-mri) - [hip pain (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/hip-pain) - [mens health awareness (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/mens-health-awareness) - [multiparametric prostate mri (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/multiparametric-prostate-mri) - [orthopedic MRI (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/orthopedic-mri) - [pelvic mri (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/pelvic-mri) - [prostate cancer, prostate mri, manogram (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/prostate-cancer-prostate-mri-manogram) - [women's health (1)](https://info.shields.com/topic/womens-health) [See all](https://info.shields.com/bid/45590/Low-Dose-Chest-CT-Screening-and-Lung-Cancer#) [![FA Partner](https://info.shields.com/hubfs/Shields_February2019/Images/FA-partner.jpg)](https://shields.com/partner-with-us/overview/) [![3T MRI](https://info.shields.com/hubfs/Shields_February2019/Images/3T-banner.jpg)](https://shields.com/Umassmemorial3T/) © 2019 Shields MRI. All Rights Reserved [![](https://info.shields.com/hubfs/Shields_February2019/Images/footer_ACR.png)](https://shields.com/certifications/)