2012 Volume 52 Issue 6 Pages 938-942
"Guidelines for Lung Cancer Screening based on the Evaluation of Efficacy" edited by the Sobue Team of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare recommends that "if the screening is managed appropriately", "the current lung cancer screening in Japan is highly likely to contribute to decrease in mortality and should be implemented". Meanwhile, "Clinical Guidelines of Lung Cancer based on EBM (2005)" published by the Japan Lung Cancer Society describes that "the mortality reduction in the current lung cancer screening in Japan is under investigation, and evidence to recommend screening is lacking", which is different from the guidelines of the Sobue Team. In the evaluation process of the latter recommendation, studies other than randomized controlled trials were underestimated case-control studies were omitted from evaluation even though the studies are in the field of epidemiology/screening. In order to solve this discrepancy, a revised version was established in 2010 and was uploaded to website of the Japan Lung Cancer Society on November 26, 2010. It recommends the current lung cancer screening in Japan when it is managed with the standard system including double interpretation and comparative reading. Furthermore, the results of a recently reported PLCO study are discussed.
