[Lung cancer -- CT screening for lung cancer dramatically improved survival after surgical resection]

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Japan. Because the majority of patients with lung cancer have metastatic or locally advanced disease at presentation, early diagnosis and treatment are important in improving the currently low survival rate of lung cancer patients. Recent increase in frequency of detecting small-sized lung cancer can be attributed to the screening system, and surgery for early-stage lung cancer is performed more often. This tendency resulted in the recent improved survival after surgical resection seen in patients with lung cancer, which has led to renewed interest in screening program for lung cancer with the promise of detecting smaller and potentially more curable tumors. Several authors reported that the use of low-dose computed tomography screening in detecting lung cancer enabled better detection of small, low density nodules, which would lead to an excellent cure rate for the disease.