Use of pulmonary function test demographic data to identify high-risk patients for lung cancer screening

Abstract

Lung Cancer is the primary cause of cancer-related death in the United States. We have recognized a need for novel methods of identification and consideration of enrollment into a lung cancer screening program for those at the highest risk of lung cancer. Our primary goal was to determine if pulmonary function test (PFT) demographic data would be useful in identifying patients for lung cancer screening. We retrospectively reviewed PFTs performed at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center (LHMC) January 2012 through January 2013 and found that of patients identified as high risk of lung cancer, 89% had passed through our PFT lab but had not yet been screened. Investigation into the barriers of lung cancer screening to better understand how to increase appropriate enrollment then followed. A total of 3098 PFTs were reviewed from January 2012 through January 2013 and 634 patients (20%) were identified as high risk for lung cancer. Of 634 patients, 70 (11%) were already in the LHMC lung cancer screening program. The remaining 564 patients (89%) were not enrolled, and of these, it was found that 292 patients identified as high risk for lung cancer represented missed opportunities for screening. The remaining 272 patients were appropriately not screened with the three most common reasons being prior imaging with positive finding, lung cancer within five years, and provider discussed but scan not yet performed. Appropriate enrollment in a lung cancer screening program may be increased with the careful use of demographic data obtained from a PFT lab.

Preoperative respiratory therapy in patients undergoing surgery for lung cancer: A randomized controlled trial

“…Currently, one of the main investigations into improve lung cancer survival is the early detection of the disease through imaging tests, such as computed tomography (Garrido et al., 2017) The most effective treatment is surgery, mainly performed in the early stages (Hoy et al., 2019). However, lung resection produces pathophysiological changes in patients, generating postoperative complications, including a postoperative air leak (PAL) and postoperative pain (Jimenez et al., 2018; Steffens et al., 2018). Persistent air leaks are a common problem, occurring spontaneously in pneumothorax but also after lung surgeries.…”