Circulating Tumor Cells in Lung Cancer Screening

Plain-language summary

This trial is intended to evaluate the value of circulating tumor cells (CTC), in combination with unenhanced (without injection of contrast media) low dose (to limit the effective radiation dose below 1,5 mSv) chest computed tomography (LDCT) in the screening of Lung cancer (LC). LDCT screening was shown to reduce LC mortality in smokers and ex-smokers, older than 55 years, with a history of more than 30 pack-years. LDCT however shows a close to 30% rate of false positive that require repeat follow-up and also invasive investigations, but also false negatives with metastatic LC being discovered between screening rounds. Migration of circulating tumor cells (CTC) is an early event of carcinogenesis and characterizes aggressive cancers. We recently showed that CTC can be detected with the ISET technique in a population at high risk for LC, i.e. COPD patients before LC was detectable on LDCT. The study will focus on patients at very high risk for lung cancer i.e. smokers and ex-smokers suffering Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The study will enroll 600 participants who will undergo three rounds of screening at one year intervals, each round combining search for CTC on a blood sample and LDCT. Each participant will be followed for at least one year after the last screening round

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Trial details