The American review of respiratory disease
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Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. · Oct 1984
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialEarly lung cancer detection: results of the initial (prevalence) radiologic and cytologic screening in the Johns Hopkins study.
The Johns Hopkins Lung Project was designed to determine whether the addition of cytologic screening to the radiographic screening of high-risk volunteers could enhance the early detection of asymptomatic lung cancer and whether early therapeutic intervention in detected cases could significantly reduce the mortality from this disease. Male volunteers, 45 yr of age and older, who smoked at least 1 pack of cigarettes per day were recruited from the Baltimore metropolitan area. All of the 10,387 acceptable high-risk volunteers received annual chest radiographic screening. ⋯ There was no corresponding decrease in prevalence. Lung cancers detected by cytology alone were found at very early stages. Although there has been an increase in average survival, much of this increase, if not all, may have resulted from lead-time and sampling bias.