Computer-assisted diagnosis for an early identification of lung cancer in chest X rays.

Computer-assisted diagnosis (CAD) algorithms have shown its usefulness for the identification of pulmonary nodules in chest x-rays, but its capability to diagnose lung cancer (LC) is unknown. A CAD algorithm for the identification of pulmonary nodules was created and used on a retrospective cohort of patients with x-rays performed in 2008 and not examined by a radiologist when obtained. X-rays were sorted according to the probability of pulmonary nodule, read by a radiologist and the evolution for the following three years was assessed.