Lung Cancer Screening

Results

If a screening participant’s scan is normal, results are sent both to the participant and to his/her primary care doctor within a week, and annual CT screening may be recommended.

For individuals with “positive” screening results—meaning that the scan reveals an abnormality—Ingalls notifies the participant and the primary care doctor and encourages a consultation with a specialist regarding further evaluation.

CT scanning enables Ingalls cancer experts to catch lesions when they are very small. And while a majority of small lesions may be harmless, by keeping track of any changes in the lesions, doctors can be more certain that cancer will be detected early if it is present.

The five-year survival rate for individuals diagnosed with early lung cancer (stage 1) is 70 percent, versus less than five percent for individuals with advanced lung cancer (stage 4). Even more encouraging, recent studies have shown that the 10-year survival rate for early-stage lung cancer is 92 percent.