Lung Cancer Screening: Concerns with the Canadian Task Force Guidelines

The Task Force makes a “weak” recommendation with limited screening.

Canada’s lung cancer screening guideline recommends high risk patients undergo screening, from age 55 to 74 annually for three consecutive times only. This contradicts principles of screening, which indicate that screening should continue until there is no longer a survival benefit to the individual. 

The Task Force guidelines from 2016, which only recommend three rounds of screening, would mean that any individuals enrolled in a lung cancer screening program would lose any benefits of screening after the three year period.

The Task Force guidelines are outdated, with major studies released since its publication, leading to lung cancer screening being adopted in provinces across the country in spite of this recommendation. Without new guidelines an access barrier exists, as individuals who may have a life-saving scan may never get referred.

“The recommendation is problematic. Such a short interval of screening is practical in the context of a clinical trial with a limited time horizon, but not in routine practice.” — letter from Dr. Garth Nicholas, Medical Oncologist, The Ottawa Hospital.

Expert Recommended Guidelines

For BC Expert Recommended Guidelines, please click here.

For Ontario Expert Recommended Guidelines, please click here.

 

Expert Statements

Paul Wheatley-Price MBChB, BSc, FRCPC

● Medical Oncologist
● Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa
● Immediate Past President, Lung Cancer Canada