Primary care radiography in the early diagnosis of lung cancer.
Finding an abnormality on a plain chest radiograph is usually the first definite evidence of a lung cancer, so this investigation is currently pivotal in the diagnosis of the disease. Although the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has produced guidance on when a chest radiograph should be done for putative lung cancer presentations, cancer will usually be only one of a number of possible diagnoses, so this is somewhat artificial. Neither is there any evidence that obtaining a chest radiograph for these features leads to an improved outcome. Another major concern is the poor public awareness of the symptoms for which a chest radiograph is recommended. This article discusses the role of the chest radiograph in the early diagnosis of lung cancer with particular emphasis on the limited value of a single negative result and on the potential implications of interventions to increase the number of chest radiographs done in primary care.
Chest Clinic, Doncaster Royal Infirmary, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN2 5LT, UK. trevor.rogers@dbh.nhs.uk
Trevor K
TK
Rogers
D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011859:Radiography; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology