New recommendations promote high quality screening programs
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The new lung cancer screening guidelines presented at CHEST 2017 have now been confirmed and published in CHEST. Unlike our previous guideline, this version includes recommendations for implementation of low-dose CT screening, from how to select patients appropriately to how to manage abnormal results. We also updated some of the core recommendations and have provided less formal statements based on expert consensus where evidence does not support formal guidelines.
Our rigorous, systematic review of the most recent literature regarding lung cancer screening helped the panel develop six graded recommendations and nine ungraded, consensus-based statements. Noteworthy updates to existing core recommendations include:
While we have seen an increase in favorable outcomes utilizing a centralized management approach at Cleveland Clinic, the guidelines recognize that screening programs come in many forms. Increasing access to high quality screening programs is a priority for improving patient outcomes, and the panel has provided statements to guide programs regarding:
As guideline chair, my hope is that the new recommendations and statements will allow high quality screening programs that respect patient values to proliferate. When high quality programs screen patients, the balance of benefit and harms tips toward lung cancer screening — cancers are detected sooner, and fewer unnecessary interventions occur.
Dr. Mazzone is Director of the Lung Cancer Program and Lung Cancer Screening Program for the Respiratory Institute.
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