Advances in Lung Cancer Screening and Early Detection

Overview

Journal Cancer Biol Med

Specialty Oncology

Date 2022 May 10

PMID 35535966

Authors

Caichen Li

Huiting Wang

Yu Jiang

Wenhai Fu

Xiwen Liu

Ran Zhong

Bo Cheng

Feng Zhu

Yang Xiang

Jianxing He

Wenhua Liang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Lung cancer is associated with a heavy cancer-related burden in terms of patients' physical and mental health worldwide. Two randomized controlled trials, the US-National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) and Nederlands-Leuvens Longkanker Screenings Onderzoek (NELSON), indicated that low-dose CT (LDCT) screening results in a statistically significant decrease in mortality in patients with lung cancer, LDCT has become the standard approach for lung cancer screening. However, many issues in lung cancer screening remain unresolved, such as the screening criteria, high false-positive rate, and radiation exposure. This review first summarizes recent studies on lung cancer screening from the US, Europe, and Asia, and discusses risk-based selection for screening and the related issues. Second, an overview of novel techniques for the differential diagnosis of pulmonary nodules, including artificial intelligence and molecular biomarker-based screening, is presented. Third, current explorations of strategies for suspected malignancy are summarized. Overall, this review aims to help clinicians understand recent progress in lung cancer screening and alleviate the burden of lung cancer.

Citing Articles

Lung Cancer-Epidemiology, Pathogenesis, Treatment and Molecular Aspect (Review of Literature).

Smolarz B, Lukasiewicz H, Samulak D, Piekarska E, Kolacinski R, Romanowicz H Int J Mol Sci. 2025; 26(5).

PMID: 40076671 PMC: 11900952. DOI: 10.3390/ijms26052049.

A Thorough Review of the Clinical Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Lung Cancer.

Kotoulas S, Spyratos D, Porpodis K, Domvri K, Boutou A, Kaimakamis E Cancers (Basel). 2025; 17(5).

PMID: 40075729 PMC: 11898928. DOI: 10.3390/cancers17050882.

Integrating artificial intelligence into radiological cancer imaging: from diagnosis and treatment response to prognosis.

Zheng S, Cui X, Ye Z Cancer Biol Med. 2025; 22(1).

PMID: 39907115 PMC: 11795265. DOI: 10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2024.0422.

The Treatment of Patients with Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Who Are Not Candidates or Decline Surgical Resection: The Role of Radiation and Image-Guided Thermal Ablation.

Buchberger D, Khurana R, Bolen M, Videtic G J Clin Med. 2025; 13(24.

PMID: 39768701 PMC: 11727850. DOI: 10.3390/jcm13247777.

Detection of aberrant locomotor activity in a mouse model of lung cancer via home cage monitoring.

Tomanelli M, Guffanti F, Vargiu G, Micotti E, Rigamonti M, Tumiatti F Front Oncol. 2025; 14:1504938.

PMID: 39763604 PMC: 11701213. DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1504938.

References

Cristofanilli M, Budd G, Ellis M, Stopeck A, Matera J, Miller M . Circulating tumor cells, disease progression, and survival in metastatic breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2004; 351(8):781-91. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa040766. View

FROST J, BALL Jr W, Levin M, Tockman M, Baker R, Carter D . Early lung cancer detection: results of the initial (prevalence) radiologic and cytologic screening in the Johns Hopkins study. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1984; 130(4):549-54. DOI: 10.1164/arrd.1984.130.4.549. View

Kubik A, Polak J . Lung cancer detection. Results of a randomized prospective study in Czechoslovakia. Cancer. 1986; 57(12):2427-37. DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19860615)57:12<2427::aid-cncr2820571230>3.0.co;2-m. View

Rampinelli C, De Marco P, Origgi D, Maisonneuve P, Casiraghi M, Veronesi G . Exposure to low dose computed tomography for lung cancer screening and risk of cancer: secondary analysis of trial data and risk-benefit analysis. BMJ. 2017; 356:j347. PMC: 5421449. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.j347. View

Aberle D, Adams A, Berg C, Black W, Clapp J, Fagerstrom R . Reduced lung-cancer mortality with low-dose computed tomographic screening. N Engl J Med. 2011; 365(5):395-409. PMC: 4356534. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1102873. View

Mayne S, Buenconsejo J, Janerich D . Previous lung disease and risk of lung cancer among men and women nonsmokers. Am J Epidemiol. 1999; 149(1):13-20. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009722. View

. Smoking-attributable mortality, years of potential life lost, and productivity losses--United States, 2000-2004. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2008; 57(45):1226-8. View

Lee J, Lim J, Kim Y, Kim H, Goo J, Lee C . Development of Protocol for Korean Lung Cancer Screening Project (K-LUCAS) to Evaluate Effectiveness and Feasibility to Implement National Cancer Screening Program. Cancer Res Treat. 2019; 51(4):1285-1294. PMC: 6790831. DOI: 10.4143/crt.2018.464. View

Shintani T, Masago K, Takayama K, Ueki K, Kimino G, Ueki N . Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Synchronous Primary Lung Cancer: Clinical Outcome of 18 Cases. Clin Lung Cancer. 2015; 16(5):e91-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.cllc.2014.12.011. View

10.

Church T, Black W, Aberle D, Berg C, Clingan K, Duan F . Results of initial low-dose computed tomographic screening for lung cancer. N Engl J Med. 2013; 368(21):1980-91. PMC: 3762603. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1209120. View

11.

Tang Z, Ling Z, Wang C, Wu Y, Kong J . Serum tumor-associated autoantibodies as diagnostic biomarkers for lung cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2017; 12(7):e0182117. PMC: 5547718. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182117. View

12.

Brenner A, Wang Z, Kleinerman R, Wang L, Zhang S, Metayer C . Previous pulmonary diseases and risk of lung cancer in Gansu Province, China. Int J Epidemiol. 2001; 30(1):118-24. DOI: 10.1093/ije/30.1.118. View

13.

Baisi A, De Simone M, Raveglia F, Cioffi U . Thermal ablation in the treatment of lung cancer: present and future. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2012; 43(4):683-6. DOI: 10.1093/ejcts/ezs558. View

14.

Bartoli M, Novelli F, Costa F, Malagrino L, Melosini L, Bacci E . Malondialdehyde in exhaled breath condensate as a marker of oxidative stress in different pulmonary diseases. Mediators Inflamm. 2011; 2011:891752. PMC: 3136125. DOI: 10.1155/2011/891752. View

15.

Moyer V . Screening for lung cancer: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement. Ann Intern Med. 2014; 160(5):330-8. DOI: 10.7326/M13-2771. View

16.

Dudley J, Lin M, Le D, Eshleman J . Microsatellite Instability as a Biomarker for PD-1 Blockade. Clin Cancer Res. 2016; 22(4):813-20. DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-15-1678. View

17.

Schnabel R, Fijten R, Smolinska A, Dallinga J, Boumans M, Stobberingh E . Analysis of volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath to diagnose ventilator-associated pneumonia. Sci Rep. 2015; 5:17179. PMC: 4660425. DOI: 10.1038/srep17179. View

18.

Mazzone P, Wang X, Han X, Choi H, Seeley M, Scherer R . Evaluation of a Serum Lung Cancer Biomarker Panel. Biomark Insights. 2018; 13:1177271917751608. PMC: 5772503. DOI: 10.1177/1177271917751608. View

19.

Kang G, Liu K, Hou B, Zhang N . 3D multi-view convolutional neural networks for lung nodule classification. PLoS One. 2017; 12(11):e0188290. PMC: 5690636. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188290. View

20.

Yamauchi Y, Izumi Y, Hashimoto K, Yashiro H, Inoue M, Nakatsuka S . Percutaneous cryoablation for the treatment of medically inoperable stage I non-small cell lung cancer. PLoS One. 2012; 7(3):e33223. PMC: 3297638. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0033223. View