Lung Scan: CT may catch some treatable cancers
By Nathan Seppa
A controversial study suggests that computed tomography (CT) scans catch lung cancer early in smokers and other high-risk people, enabling doctors to intervene when they still can improve a patient’s chances of survival. However, some scientists criticize the study’s design for leaving many questions unanswered.
By the time lung cancer is typically discovered, it has spread to lymph nodes or other organs. As a result, only 15 percent of people with lung cancer survive 5 years after their diagnosis. CT scans have been proposed as a tool to find early lung cancers.