Purpose
Lung cancer is worldwide the leading cause of cancer-related death for both males and females [1]. When lung cancer is diagnosed, the disease is often already in an advanced stage. As a result, the 5-year survival rate for lung cancer is only 15% [2]. Results from multiple randomized controlled trials for lung cancer screening are strong evidence that annual low-dose chest computed tomography (CT) in high-risk individuals is a promising strategy to detect lung cancer in an early stage, thereby reducing lung cancer mortality [3,...
Methods and materials
We retrospectively collected the radiology reports from chest CT studies performed between 2008 and 2019 from the Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems of two Dutch hospitals, one academic hospital and one teaching hospital. All studies were registered in both the EHR and Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS). Cases were included between 2008 and 2017; two years served as follow-up. Radiology reports from CT scans that only contain portions of the lungs (e.g. abdominal CT) were not included. This study was approved by the medical...
Results
Between 2008 and 2017, a total of 68,656 patients underwent 142,111 chest CT examinations at both hospitals combined. The number of annual chest CT scans increased from 11,315 in 7,861 patients to 18,511 in 12,565 patients during this period, an increase of 64%. The trends in the number of patients and studies are shown in Figure 3 and 4, respectively. The percentage of patients, in whom nodules were reported, increased from 33% (2,605 individuals) in 2008 to 50% (6,253 individuals) in 2017. The proportion of...
Conclusion
The number of patients who underwent chest CT examinations substantially increased over the past decade. The proportion of patients in whom a pulmonary nodule has been found significantly increased, as did the percentage of those who received follow-up CT. These findings underline that effective nodule management becomes an increasingly important public health issue.
Personal information and conflict of interest
W. Hendrix:
Nothing to disclose
N. Hendrix:
Nothing to disclose
M. Prokop:
Nothing to disclose
E. Scholten:
Nothing to disclose
B. Van Ginneken:
Nothing to disclose
M. Rutten:
Nothing to disclose
C. Jacobs:
Nothing to disclose
References
Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, et al (2018) Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin 68:394–424
Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A (2020) Cancer statistics, 2020. CA Cancer J Clin 70:7–30
de Koning HJ, van der Aalst CM, de Jong PA, et al (2020) Reduced Lung-Cancer Mortality with Volume CT Screening in a Randomized Trial. N Engl J Med 382:503–513
Aberle DR, Adams AM, Berg CD, et al (2011) Reduced...