LCA hails NCCN for lung cancer screening guidelines

Today Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) hailed the leadership of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) for being the first professional society to recommend low-dose CT screening for high risk individuals and to develop comprehensive clinical practice guidelines on lung cancer screening.    

NCCN is a consortia of 21 of the world's leading cancer centers dedicated to improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cancer.  

Released October 26, 2011, the NCCN guidelines stem from the landmark November 2010 decision by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to halt its eight-year National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) because the study found  that screening people at high risk for lung cancer with low-dose (LDCT) scans reduced lung cancer mortality by 20%.

In the absence of screening, lung cancer is generally found after it has spread beyond the lung and existing treatments are rarely curative. Lung cancer alone accounts for close to one in three cancers deaths and is the leading cause of cancer death across the world.

"We appreciate NCCN's recognition of the urgency of the situation and working to allow the life-saving potential of CT screening to move swiftly and thoughtfully to clinical implementation." said Laurie Fenton Ambrose, LCA President & CEO.  As the leading national voice for patients and those at risk for lung cancer and as a consistent advocate for early detection and increased research funding for the disease, LCA will continue to work with respected professional societies to ensure the benefit of CT screening is  available to those at risk in a safe, efficient and equitable way."

The NCCN guidelines provide important clinical information on risk factors for lung cancer, criteria for selecting high-risk individuals for screening, recommendations for evaluation and follow-up of nodules found during screening,  accuracy of low-dose CT screening protocols and imaging modalities, and the benefits and risk of screening.

Fenton-Ambrose concluded, "This data from NCCN will serve as an important communications tool for physicians to discuss the risks as well as the recently documented significant benefits of this promising new lung cancer management approach."