State-of-the-art screening for lung cancer (part 1): the chest radiograph.

The chest radiographic methods used in prior studies of lung cancer screening and in current prospective clinical trials of lung cancer screening do not incorporate, as part of their prospective design, the newer methods available for the detection of lung nodules. DR, image processing, ES, and CAD have been shown to enhance lung nodule detection. TS is a promising method but with less supporting data currently available. These techniques, alone or in combination, do not equal the nodule detection capability of lung CT, but they are likely to benefit patients having CXRs for other clinically indicated purposes and when the detection of a nodule is incidental to the clinical indication for the radiographic study.