Room for improvement.

There’s room in every direction when it comes to lung cancer screening. This multi-institutional prospective study in North Carolina observed, of the folks who actually made it to a low-dose CT screening, how many received recommended follow-up for suspicious findings. Turns out, less than half—and this, again, is among those who have the resources to get screened in the first place. Overall adherence was a paltry 292 of 685 (43%). It was worse for lower Lung-RADS scores: 109 of 363 (30%) with a score of 3, 96 of 194 (50%) with 4A, and 87 of 128 (68%) with 4B or 4X. This safe, low-burden, potentially life-saving cancer screening that involves no pelvic exam, no GoLYTELY, and no compression of sensitive body parts is in serious need of a new PR strategy. | Rivera, JAMA Netw Open 2022