According to a new study, smokers who receive multiple abnormal results using computed tomography (CT) to screen for lung cancer are more likely to quit, suggesting an opportunity for doctors to motivate smokers to quit smoking.
The study appears in the May 15, 2005 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, and finds smokers who receive one or more abnormal results on the screening test are increasingly likely to quit and remain abstinent from smoking over three years.
Because up to 70 percent of smokers undergoing screening say they want to quit, many researchers have been interested in using cancer screening results as an opportunity to motivate smokers to quit. Previous studies have found smokers recently diagnosed with medical conditions are more interested in, and successful at, quitting.
Studies of low-dose, fast, spiral chest CT have supported its use as a potential "teachable moment" to motivate a smoker to quit. A previous study published in CANCER indicated a single, annual CT lung cancer screening did not increase smoking cessation rates. Therefore, perhaps, multiple abnormal findings may provide a psychological push for a smoker to quit.
Seeking to test that hypothesis, investigators led by James R. Jett, M.D. and Stephen J. Swensen, M.D. at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN followed 926 baseline smokers and 594 former smokers who received three consecutive annual spiral CT scan screenings for lung cancer.