ABSTRACT
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of mortality from cancer. This chapter describes the evolution and results of screening studies using these techniques and the controversies that developed surrounding the results of these studies. It explores several emerging technologies for early lung cancer detection, with a special emphasis on low-dose spiral computed tomography (CT). Screening studies for lung cancer date to the 1950s and 1960s, when several studies were undertaken using a variety of screening protocols that combined chest radiography and sputum analysis. Low-dose spiral CT has been explored as a tool for detecting early lung cancer in asymptomatic individuals at risk for the disease, with encouraging preliminary results. The light-induced fluorescence endoscopy device, which was designed to capitalize on differences in autofluorescence properties in order to aid in the detection and localization of preinvasive lung cancer, has been approved by the FDA for the detection of early lung cancer.
