Assocation of significant incidental findings in the National Lung Screening Trial with diagnosis of extrapulmonary cancer

Significant incidental findings (SIFs) not related to lung cancer have been widely reported in patients undergoing lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT). A retrospective cohort study using data from the LDCT arm of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) investigated the association between a SIF considered to be potentially indicative of extrapulmonary cancer (cancer SIF) and diagnosis of an extrapulmonary cancer within one year of the screen. In this cohort study of 26,445 participants, those in whom a cancer SIF was detected had a higher risk of cancer diagnosis in the year following the screening examination than participants with no cancer SIF. The risk differe nce was 13.89 (95% CL 7.03-20.75) per 1000 participants. The authors conclude that cancer SIFs were associated with an increased risk of an extrapulmonary cancer diagnosis in the year following a LDCT lung cancer screening examination.