Delay in Confirmation of Cancer Diagnosis When Screening CT was Positive in NLST

Principal Investigator

Name
Hrudaya Nath

Degrees
MD

Institution
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Position Title
Professor of Radiology and Medicine

Email
hnath@uabmc.edu

About this CDAS Project

Study
NLST (Learn more about this study)

Project ID
201207-0027

Initial CDAS Request Approval
Jul 27, 2012

Title
Delay in Confirmation of Cancer Diagnosis When Screening CT was Positive in NLST

Summary
Purpose of lung cancer screening is to find the malignancy before it becomes inoperable. While imaging is considered the primary tool for the screening, finding an abnormality suspicious of cancer is only the first step since the screen detected abnormality requires pathological confirmation before any possible treatment can begin. Thus, timely confirmation of presence of cancer is as important as the recognition of an imaging abnormality for the screening process to be truly effective.

A delay in diagnosis can be from true negative screen (an interval cancer), which is not a real failure of the screening process. However, the delay can also result from a false negative interpretation of a screen, or when the screen is positive delay in confirmation of the cancer could result from a variety of factors such as inaction, inappropriate action, or false negative diagnostic procedures. Whatever the cause, the net result could be a delay in instituting appropriate treatment and possibly worsened prognosis.

Collaborators

Paul Pinsky
David Gierada
Reginald Munden
Jubal Watts
Sushil Sonavane
Paul Kvale