The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Aug 2023
Randomized Controlled TrialOverestimation of screening-related complications in the National Lung Screening Trial.
Lung cancer screening-associated complications are often quoted as one of the major barriers for wider screening adoption. A detailed analysis of the National Lung Screening Trial dataset was performed to extrapolate the safety of lung cancer screening. ⋯ It is more informative to report procedural complications in patients not found to have cancer as the true screening-associated risk. Only 4 in 10,000 of patients undergoing low-dose computed tomography screening but not found to have lung cancer will have major complications. Permanent or debilitating complications are exceedingly rare.