Computed tomographic screening for lung cancer: the Mayo Clinic experience.

The Mayo Clinic has been involved in screening for lung cancer since the lung cancer project in 1971. The Mayo Clinic recently completed a study of more than 1500 patients with low-dose computed tomographic (CT) screening for lung cancer. Results showed that more than 75% of patients in the screening program had a lung nodule but only a small percentage had lung cancer. As others have found, screening with low-dose CT finds patients with lung cancer at an earlier stage and hopefully will increase the cure rate.