By Kate McHugh
The American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) released new guidelines for the prevention, treatment and screening of lung cancer. These are the second set of guidelines released and make changes to some widely-held beliefs and practices when dealing with lung cancer.
Among the changes is the recommendation against low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) for the general screening of lung cancer. Authors write lung cancer screening does not alter mortality outcomes, so they say they cannot recommend the use of the screening.
"There is really no evidence that screening for lung cancer provides a mortality benefit and because there are some very real risks to doing a lung cancer screening, we don't feel we can recommend screening at this point in time," W. Michael Alberts, M.D., chair of the ACCP guidelines, told Ivanhoe. "We all hope the randomized control trials will show a mortality benefit for the screening of lung cancer. We just don't know yet."
The guidelines also recommend against the preventive use of Beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin E and aspirin in at-risk patients or those with a history of lung cancer.
"We know Beta-carotene actually shows an increased risk of lung cancer when used as a supplement in smoking patients," Dr. Alberts said. He said there is no proven danger to taking vitamins A and E and aspirin, although no proven benefit as yet, either.
For the first time, the ACCP guidelines included recommendations for mind-body modalities as part of an approach to reduce anxiety, mood disturbances and chronic pain associated with lung cancer. Massage therapy is recommended for pain and anxiety while acupuncture is recommended for fatigue and neuropathy. Electrostimulation wristbands, however, are not recommended for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting as studies show they do little to prevent such symptoms.
