April 27, 2024

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What do you need to do for lung cancer CT screening?

What do you need to do for lung cancer CT screening?

 

What do you need to do for lung cancer CT screening? How to screen for lung cancer? 

Lung cancer screening is of great significance to the treatment of lung cancer, and it is a key preventive method for lung cancer. There are worlds of difference in the treatment effect, treatment risk and quality of life of lung cancer patients in different periods.

 

 

1. How to screen for lung cancer?

The process of lung cancer screening is as follows: firstly, sign an informed consent form and complete a questionnaire, then conduct a risk assessment of lung cancer, decide whether to screen for lung cancer based on the results of the risk assessment, and finally carry out corresponding treatments based on the results of the screening.

All individuals involved in lung cancer screening need to clarify the purpose of lung cancer screening, how to perform lung cancer screening, and its risks, and then sign an informed consent form on a voluntary basis.

Risk assessment is to determine whether the individual is at high risk of lung cancer based on the information obtained in the questionnaire survey about the age of the individual, whether he smokes, whether he has occupational exposure, whether he has a family history, and whether he is suffering from chronic lung diseases such as tuberculosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. People at high risk of lung cancer should directly undergo special screening for lung cancer for early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment.

Currently, the preferred method for early lung cancer screening is low-dose spiral CT (LDCT). Compared with conventional CT, low-dose spiral CT has the same excellent detection rate of lung diseases, and the detection rate of lung cancer is higher, and lung nodules of 1 to 4 mm can also be found. in addition. Low-dose spiral CT produces a lower radiation dose and does not use contrast agents, so it has little impact on the human body.

 

 

2. What needs to be done during CT screening of lung cancer?

  • Before the inspection, remove all metal objects on the body to avoid affecting the quality of the image.
  • During the inspection, follow the instructions of the technician.
  • After the examination, the clinician will discuss the treatment plan based on the examination results.

 

 

3. Is the lung nodule found by CT must be cancer?

uncertain. Lung nodules may be infections, cancers, scars, etc. Most nodules are benign. To determine whether a lung nodule is lung cancer, further analysis of the nodule is needed. Vicious nodules usually grow faster and are larger in size.

Under normal circumstances, repeated screening is required after a nodule is found. The time and method of screening should be determined according to the size, density, shape and their changes of the nodule.

 

 

4. What other methods are available to check for lung cancer?

In addition to low-dose spiral CT,

The following methods can also help detect early lung cancer.

 

Routine physical examination

Chest X-ray fluoroscopy is the most common lung examination, but the resolution of this examination method is low, and the structures are easy to overlap and affect the analysis of the results. It has greater limitations for the discovery of pulmonary nodules. Therefore, chest X-ray is not recommended for lung cancer screening.

Routine physical examinations are less effective in screening for lung cancer, but regular physical examinations can give us a general understanding of our physical health and help prevent the occurrence and development of diseases.

 

Chest CT

Compared with chest X-ray fluoroscopy, chest CT is a cross-sectional imaging, which can effectively eliminate the overlapping interference of the front and rear tissue structures, and has a higher resolution, which can effectively find hidden nodules in the lungs.

For the detection of early lung cancer, chest CT has a good detection rate. However, the chest CT radiation dose is relatively large, and if used for a long time, it will have a greater health impact on the patient, so it is not used as a routine method for lung cancer screening.

 

Blood test

Detection of tumor markers can detect early cancer to a certain extent, but this method is less reliable for cancer screening and can only be used as an auxiliary detection method.

Therefore, even if the blood test results are abnormal, further examinations are needed to confirm the diagnosis.

 

Genetic Testing

Modern medicine has proven that cancer is hereditary, and oncogenes carried by patients have also been found in some cancers.

For lung cancer patients, the use of genetic testing is mostly applied to lung cancer patients treated with targeted drugs, and its contribution to the early detection of lung cancer is not outstanding.

 

Pathological biopsy

Pathological biopsy is the “gold standard” for cancer diagnosis. Obtain some tissues or cells from the tumor by surgical methods, and observe under a microscope in the pathology laboratory to see if there are cancer cells.

No matter what kind of detection method is used to detect early lung cancer, it can only be “suspect” cancer. Only a pathological biopsy finds the presence of cancer cells can be diagnosed as cancer.

 

(source:internet, reference only)


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