Emphysema scores predict death from COPD and lung cancer.

Objective: Our objective was to assess the usefulness of emphysema scores in predicting death from COPD and lung cancer.

Methods: Emphysema was assessed with low-dose CT scans performed on 9,047 men and women for whom age and smoking history were documented. Each scan was scored according to the presence of emphysema as follows: none, mild, moderate, or marked.

Ordinal scoring of coronary artery calcifications on low-dose CT scans of the chest is predictive of death from cardiovascular disease.

Purpose: To assess the usefulness of ordinal scoring of the visual assessment of coronary artery calcification (CAC) on low-dose computed tomographic (CT) scans of the chest in the prediction of cardiovascular death.

Materials And Methods: All participants consented to low-dose CT screening according to an institutional review board-approved protocol. The amount of CAC was assessed on ungated low-dose CT scans of the chest obtained between June 2000 and December 2005 in a cohort of 8782 smokers aged 40-85 years.

CT screening for lung cancer: suspiciousness of nodules according to size on baseline scans.

Purpose: To assess the frequency with which a particular, possibly optimal work-up of noncalcified nodules less than 5.0 mm in diameter identified on initial computed tomographic (CT) images at baseline screening leads to a diagnosis of malignancy prior to first annual repeat screening, compared with a possibly optimal work-up of larger nodules.

Materials And Methods: Two series of baseline CT screenings in high-risk people were retrospectively reviewed.