New results from a large, observational study suggest that using spiral computed tomography (CT) to screen people at increased risk for lung cancer can detect the disease at an early stage and may increase the number of people who can be cured. Currently, the vast majority of lung cancer diagnoses aren't made until the disease is well advanced, and most of these patients die within 5 years.

Among participants in the study who received a diagnosis of lung cancer based on spiral CT screening and a resulting biopsy, 85 percent had stage I lung cancer (412 of 484), and a statistically estimated 10-year survival among these patients was 88 percent. Among stage I patients who underwent surgery within 1 month of diagnosis, the estimated 10-year survival rate was 92 percent. Very few patients in the study, however, have been followed for 10 years. Read more  

I'd like to draw the entire cancer community's attention to a Request for Information (RFI) in the October 20 issue of NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts. This important new RFI is soliciting suggestions for new initiatives that will improve and accelerate biomedical and behavioral research and its impact on public health, to be implemented under the aegis of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research.

The feedback generated will build the foundation from which five to eight new Roadmap initiatives will be launched, from within the currently projected Roadmap budget, beginning in Fiscal Year 2008.  Read more  

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