UPDATE: Spiral CT scans significantly lower risk of death from lung cancer

According to a new government founded study, yearly spiral CT scans of current and former heavy smokers lowered the risk that they will die from lung cancer by 20%.

The research led by Constantine A. Gatsonis at Brown University and colleagues and published in Radiology also found all-cause mortality was 7% lower among those receiving spiral CT scans compared with that among those who received chest radiography.

The findings indicated that if low-dose spiral CT screening is given with responsibility, thousands of people can be saved through early treatment.

The spiral CT scan does not come without its own ramifications. By taking multiple, rotating thoracic X-rays and merging them into a revealing 3-dimensional view, the scan can find things perhaps best left alone. In some cases they are benign anomalies that, by virtue of simply being known, call out for expensive, nerve-rattling follow-up.

In the study, approximately 353 people had died from lung cancer in the CT group of the study as against 442 cancer deaths in those in the chest X-ray group, nearly 20.3% reduction in lung cancer mortality.

Smoking is the primary cause of lung cancer and there is no other material on earth which has been killing people at such a high rate. There are many organizations worldwide that promote the awareness against lung cancer and educate smokers regarding the effects of the habit they have. Only 10% to 15% of lung cancer patients have never smoked.

Lung cancer ranks worldwide as one of the most lethal ailments, killing more people than breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers combined.