A More Effective Model for Lung Cancer Screening
Lung cancer screening based on PLCOm2012 model criteria is more effective than the USPSTF criteria.
Use of new criterion improves lung cancer screening efficiency, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine.
Researchers from Ontario, Canada; Minnesota; Wisconsin; South Carolina; Michigan; and Maryland sought to identify a risk threshold for selecting individuals for lung cancer screening, compare its efficiency to the U.S Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) criteria, and determine whether never-smokers should be screened.
The USPSTF recommends annual screening based on hard cutoffs for age and smoking duration/intensity, and does not recommend screening former smokers who quit more than 15 years ago.
The researchers applied the PLCOm2012 model, which was based on six-year lung cancer incidence, to identify people who should receive annual CT screening. This threshold was applied, alongside the USPSTF criteria, to smokers who were screened in the PLCO trial.
The results showed that 8.8% fewer people exceeded the threshold than met the USPSTF criteria, but 12.4% more lung cancers were identified using the threshold. Using the threshold resulted in higher sensitivity (80.1% versus 71.2%), specificity (66.2% versus 62.7%), and positive predictive values (4.2% versus 3.4%) than UPSTF criteria.
Among the former smokers, 8.5% who quit more than 15 years ago exceeded the PLCOm2012 threshold. No never-smokers exceeded the threshold. Risks and incidence of lung cancer were significantly greater for smokers aged 65 to 80 than among those aged 55 to 64.
"This should make lung cancer screening more attractive for policy-makers, and more affordable for health systems,” the authors said.
Use of the PLCOm2012 risk criterion can improve screening efficiency, the authors concluded.
Meta-Analysis Shows Merits of AI with CTA Detection of Coronary Artery Stenosis and Calcified Plaque
April 16th 2025Artificial intelligence demonstrated higher AUC, sensitivity, and specificity than radiologists for detecting coronary artery stenosis > 50 percent on computed tomography angiography (CTA), according to a new 17-study meta-analysis.
Could Lymph Node Distribution Patterns on CT Improve Staging for Colon Cancer?
April 11th 2025For patients with microsatellite instability-high colon cancer, distribution-based clinical lymph node staging (dCN) with computed tomography (CT) offered nearly double the accuracy rate of clinical lymph node staging in a recent study.
The Reading Room: Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Cancer Screenings, and COVID-19
November 3rd 2020In this podcast episode, Dr. Shalom Kalnicki, from Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the disparities minority patients face with cancer screenings and what can be done to increase access during the pandemic.
AMA Approves Category III CPT Codes for AI-Enabled Perivascular Fat Analysis from CT Scans
April 9th 2025Going into effect in 2026, the new CPT codes may facilitate increased adoption of the CaRi-Heart software for detecting coronary inflammation from computed tomography scans pending FDA clearance of the technology.
FDA Clears AI Assessment of Ischemic Core Volume on CT with Brainomix 360 Platform
April 8th 2025For patients with acute ischemic stroke, research has demonstrated that automated assessment of ischemic core volume on brain CT scans via the Brainomix 360 software is equivalent to that derived from CT perfusion.
