1996 Volume 36 Issue 6 Pages 759-764
The history of the lung cancer mass screening system in the Niigata Prefecture can be divided into four distinct periods. In the first period (1963-1977) there was no systematic mass screening, next there was experimental mass screening in designated districts (1978-1983). The third period (1984-1987) had standardized mass screening and the fourth is the period after the introduction of lung cancer mass screening under the Health and Medical Services Law (1988-1994). Cases resected at our institute (1592) were divided into four groups according to each period and the surgical results were analyzed.
The five-year survival rate improved steadily 34.0%, 50.4%, 54.4% and 57.8% respectively. The major reason for this improvement was the increase in p-Stage I cases, especially peripheral tumors 2cm or smaller in diameter. Judging from the reason for detection, the increase of small lung cancers is a result of increased mass screening.
With the increase in the detection of early stage lung cancer, the resection rate for lung cancer cases admitted to our institute reached 57.1% and the 5-year survival of admitted cases, including all stages, improved to over 30%, compared to less than 10% before the mass screening system was introduced.
