Outcome in patients with lung cancer found on lung cancer mass screening roentgenograms, but who did not subsequently consult a doctor
Introduction
We have occasionally encountered lung cancer patients who were found retrospectively to have had evidence of disease on past mass screening chest roentgenograms. With regard to delayed detection of lung cancer, we previously reported that, although it may be difficult to find tumors less than 10 mm in greatest dimension on chest roentgenograms on mass screening, 1-year delayed detection of lung cancer less than or equal to 20 mm dose not affect the prognosis [1]. In our previous study, we found that there were some patients who did not subsequently consult a doctor or who stopped consulting a doctor in spite of the detection of a malignant disease on mass screening. As it has been reported that the survival of patients with resected lung cancer found by lung cancer mass screening is better than that patients with of resected lung cancer found by other methods [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], delayed consultation as well as delayed detection may affect the outcome. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the difference in outcomes in patients with a 1-year delay in consultation for lung cancer on mass screening and patients without the 1-year delay in consultation.
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Patients and methods
This study enrolled 198 asymptomatic patients (130 men: 70.3±9.2 years, 68 women: 69.3±10.0 years) with lung cancer found by lung cancer mass screening during the 9 year period from January 1, 1993 to December 31, 2001 who had undergone mass screening chest roentgenograms 1 year before the disease was found. Of those, 143 patients with lung cancer enrolled in the period from 1993 through 2000, were included in previously published data [1]. The mass-screening program consists of an annual chest
Reasons why subjects did not consult a doctor or stopped consulting a doctor for 1 year
Medical Health Care Center staff advised patients to consult a doctor immediately if they had not done so 3 months after mass screening. Patients did not consult a doctor for 1 year for the following reasons: because they did not have any respiratory symptoms (n=23), because they had old inflammatory shadows that had been frequently checked on mass screening chest roentgenograms (n=4), because they had no time to consult a doctor (n=3) and because they were afraid of the presence of lung cancer
Discussion
We found that survival times in lung cancer patients who did not consult a doctor in spite of abnormal shadows of the lung detected on mass screening, were worse than those in lung cancer patients who subsequently consulted a doctor when abnormal shadows were detected on mass screening.
It has been reported that chest roentgenogram mass screening increases earlier detection, resectability and survival in lung cancer patients, although no randomized controlled trial has ever succeeded in
Acknowledgements
The authors are indebted to Assistant Prof. Raoul Breugelmans and Prof. J. Patrick Barron of the International Medical Communications Center of Tokyo Medical University for his review of this manuscript.
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