Early lung cancer detection and treatment strategies.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in the United States. The majority of lung cancer patients will present with advanced disease with a very poor overall survival. Although prior screening trials have shown no benefit from screening, there is renewed interest in low dose CT scanning as a screening modality for lung cancer. A high proportion of screen-detected cancers are early stage and resectable for cure. For the majority of these early stage patients, standard lobectomy is the treatment of choice. New options to potentially detect and treat early stage lung cancer will increase dramatically in the future.