Should we screen for lung cancer in Australia?

Marshall, Henry M; Fong, Kwun M; Bowman, Rayleen V

doi:10.5694/mja13.11110

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To the Editor: Lung cancer screening is a controversial issue, as clearly discussed by Hew and colleagues, who focus on the high false-positive rate, generalisability and cost.1

University of Queensland Thoracic Research Centre, Brisbane, QLD.

Correspondence: henry_marshall@health.qld.gov.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Hew M, Stirling RG, Abramson MJ. Should we screen for lung cancer in Australia? Med J Aust 2013; 199: 82-83. <MJA full text>
2. United States Preventive Services Task Force. Screening for lung cancer. Draft recommendation statement. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality publication no. 13-05196-EF-3. http://www. uspreventiveservices taskforce.org/uspstf13/lungcan/lung candraftrec.htm (accessed Aug 2013).
3. Kovalchik SA, Tammemagi M, Berg CD, et al. Targeting of low-dose CT screening according to the risk of lung-cancer death. N Engl J Med 2013; 369: 245-254.
4. Marshall HM, Bowman RV, Crossin J, et al. Queensland Lung Cancer Screening Study: rationale, design and methods. Intern Med J 2013; 43: 174-182.
5. Tammemägi MC, Katki HA, Hocking WG, et al. Selection criteria for lung-cancer screening. N Engl J Med 2013; 368: 728-736.
6. Australian Population Health Development Principal Committee Screening Subcommittee. Population based screening framework. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, 2008.

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