Routine chest X-rays do not prevent lung cancer deaths, not even in smokers or former smokers, according to a big government study challenging a once common type of screening.
In the study of more than 150,000 older Americans, those who had four annual chest X-ray screenings were just as likely to die of lung cancer as participants who didn’t have those tests.
The results from the National Cancer Institutefunded research confirm previous, smaller X- ray studies. They follow another big study from that institute favoring a newer, more sophisticated imaging test. That found fewer lung cancer deaths among current or former heavy smokers who had special CT imaging scans versus those who had chest X-rays. (AP)
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