[Usefulness of low-dose single-slice CT (SSCT) for mass screening to detect various thoracic diseases including lung...

This study assessed the usefulness of SSCT for mass screening retrospectively in 8885 subjects (6781 men, 2104 women) who had received mass screening to detect thoracic disease by using SSCT from 1999 to 2003. In the 8885, 119 (1.3%) lesions were detected as active thoracic disease. These 119 lesions comprised 39 neoplasms and 80 instances of non-neoplastic disease. Of those with neoplastic lesions, 25 had lung cancer (adenocarcinomas, 20; Squamous, 3; carcinoids, 2), 7 had mediastinal tumors and 7, others. Non-neoplastic cases comprised 39 of COPD (pulmonary emphysema), 17 of pulmonary tuberculosis, 8 of non-tuberculous mycobacteriosis and 16 others. Surgical treatment was performed in 46 cases: 25 of lung cancer, 14 of non-cancerous neoplasms, 3 of pulmonary sequestration and 4 others. In the lung cancer cases, the post-surgical staging was I or II (stage I, 20; stage II, 5). Low-attenuation areas (LAA) were seen on multiple CT slices in 2.2% of all subjects (195). These 195 cases had no respiratory symptoms such as exertional dyspnea, But 39 of them had an FEV1.0% (FEV1.0/FVC) of less than 70%. All 39 had a history of smoking, We suggested that SSCT screening is a useful method of mass screening to detect thoracic neoplastic lesions as well as non-neoplastic lesions.