David F. Yankelevitz, MD

A state of equipoise now exists for various surgical options in the treatment of early lung cancer, underscoring the need for shared decision making.

On April 21, 2005, the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation (CRPF), in conjunction with academic researchers, federal scientists, lung cancer advocates, and representatives of a number of pharmaceutical and diagnostic imaging companies, participated in a workshop held in Annapolis, Md, on the development of high-resolution spiral computed tomography (CT) imaging tools to assess therapeutic response in lung cancer clinical trials. In this report, we will address developments that led up to that workshop, what was discussed, and recommendations that came out of the meeting.

The authors begin their articleby presenting the current stateof affairs regarding lung cancerand the rationale as to why itwould seem to be an obvious candidateto benefit from a program ofearly diagnosis followed by earlytreatment. Briefly summarized, thedisease is the number one cancer killer,it is nearly uniformly fatal whendiagnosis is symptom-prompted, andit is highly curable when found in itsearly stage.