Early detection and screening of lung cancer

Abstract

Accounting for 28% of all cancer deaths and causing 1.3 million deaths worldwide every year, lung cancer is the most lethal cancer. Diagnosing and treating cancer at its early stages, ideally during precancerous stages, could increase the 5-year survival rate by three- to four-fold with a potential for cure. Thus far, no screening method has been shown to decrease disease-specific mortality rate. The present review describes the rationale and issues related to early lung cancer screening, the management of screen-detected primary cancers and different approaches that have been tested for screening. These include imaging techniques, bronchoscopies, molecular screenings from different noninvasive or invasive sources, such as blood, sputum, bronchoscopic samples and exhaled breath.

Keywords::

• bronchoscopy
• early detection
• imaging
• lung cancer
• molecular biology
• screening

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Celine Mascaux is supported by the ‘Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique’ of Belgium (F.R.S.-FNRS), an IASLC fellowship and a SPORE Career Development Award. Nir Peled is also supported by an IASLC Young Investigator Award and by the Fulbright-Schneider Yehuda Danon United State – Israel Education foundation. Fred Hirsch is a Consultant for and on the Advisory Boards of Astra Zeneca, Genetech/OSI/Roche, Lilly, Pfizer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Ventana, GlasxoSmithKline, BMS/Imclone and Syndax. He receives research funding from OSI, Genentech, AstraZeneca, Merck (USA), Syndax and Ventana-Roche. Fred Hirsch holds a patent for EGFR FISH as a predictive marker for EGFR Inhibitors. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.