Centralized lung cancer screening programs more effective for Black patients

Blacks referred to a dedicated lung cancer screening program, instead of to a general radiology department, are more likely to follow up positive screening results and more likely to continue undergoing annual screening.

Dedicated or centralized programs actively recruit and guide patients through the entire screening and followup process.

In a study of more than 6,000 patients led by Roger Kim, MD, (above) of the University of Pennsylvania, Black patients who were screened in centralized programs were twice as likely to return for annual screening compared with Black patients who were screened by an ordinary radiology department.

• See “Centralized CT lung screening more effective for Black Patients” by Kate Madden Yee on the AuntMinnie website (February 17, 2022)
• See the abstract of the scientific study “Racial Disparities in Adherence to Annual Lung Cancer Screening and Recommended Follow-up Care: A Multicenter Cohort Study” by Roger Y. Kim et al.