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Review
. 2017 Sep;7(9):170070.
doi: 10.1098/rsob.170070.

Progress and prospects of early detection in lung cancer

Sean Blandin Knight  1 , Phil A Crosbie  1   2 , Haval Balata  1 , Jakub Chudziak  3 , Tracy Hussell  4 , Caroline Dive  5   3
Affiliations
Review

Progress and prospects of early detection in lung cancer

Sean Blandin Knight et al. Open Biol. 2017 Sep.

Abstract

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. It is broadly divided into small cell (SCLC, approx. 15% cases) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC, approx. 85% cases). The main histological subtypes of NSCLC are adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, with the presence of specific DNA mutations allowing further molecular stratification. If identified at an early stage, surgical resection of NSCLC offers a favourable prognosis, with published case series reporting 5-year survival rates of up to 70% for small, localized tumours (stage I). However, most patients (approx. 75%) have advanced disease at the time of diagnosis (stage III/IV) and despite significant developments in the oncological management of late stage lung cancer over recent years, survival remains poor. In 2014, the UK Office for National Statistics reported that patients diagnosed with distant metastatic disease (stage IV) had a 1-year survival rate of just 15-19% compared with 81-85% for stage I.

Keywords: NLST trial; low-dose CT screening; lung cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

We declare we have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Potential targets for blood-borne biomarkers for the early detection of lung cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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