Researchers are pinpointing a method to prevent false positives in lung cancer screenings

A research team identified a technology to help fight false positives in CT-based lung cancer screening, a study published in PLOS One found.

"As physicians, one of the most challenging problems in screening patients for lung cancer is that the vast majority of the detected pulmonary nodules are not cancer," Tobias Peikert, MD, study author and pulmonologist at Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, said in a news release. "Even in individuals who are at high risk for lung cancer, up to 96 percent of nodules are not cancer."

False-positives can cause anxiety in patients and lead to unnecessary testing, such as surgery, Dr. Peikert said.

"False-positive lung cancer screening results also increase healthcare costs and may lead to unintentional physician-caused injury and mortality," he said.

To address this issue, the research team used radiomics to analyze the CT images of all lung cancers diagnosed in the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial. Radiomics involves taking data from medical images and using computer programs to identify disease characteristics unable to be identified by the naked eye.

The study authors tested 57 variables for volume, nodule density, shape, nodule surface characteristics and texture of the surrounding lung tissue. From this, the researchers identified eight variables that allowed them to see which nodules were cancerous and which were benign.

The researchers did not find a direct link between any of the eight variables and nodule size and did not account for patient age, smoking status or prior cancer history as part of the testing.

Although the technology seems promising and could alter the way physicians evaluate incidentally detected lung nodules, it requires more validation, according to Dr. Peikert.

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