[Application value of low-dose computed tomography for the screening of lung cancer in high-risk group]

To analyze the value of low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) in early screening of lung cancer in high-risk group.

LDCT was performed in 1551 adults over 40-years old (male 1054, female 497) for the screening of lung cancer in Examination Center of West China Hospital, Sichuan University, and the subjects were divided into high-risk group and non-high-risk group according to risk factors of lung caner. The detection rates of lung lesion and lung cancer in these two groups were carefully analyzed.

In the people over 40-years old,the detection rate of pulmonary lesions by LDCT was 54.41% (844/1551), the detection rate of nodules was 29.4% (456/1551). Detection rate of lung cancer was 0.51% (8/1551), while it was 1.21% (7/577) in high-risk group, and 2.01% (6/298) in heavy smoker group. The difference of lung cancer detection rate was significant (P < 0.05). When stratified with the number of risk factors, the detection rate of lung cancer by LDCT was 0.10% (1/974) in the subjects without any high-risk factors, 0.98% (5/506) in the subjects with one high-risk factor and 2.86% (2/70) in the subjects with more high-risk factors, and the differences were stastatically significant (P < 0.05).

LDCT can detect asymptomatic lung cancer sensitively with low radiation dose, which could be helpful for the screening of lung cancer.