International Journal of Hematology and Oncology 2024, Vol 34, Num 3 Page(s): 131-139
Incidence of Incidental Lung Cancer Detected in Thoracic Computed Tomography During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Perspective on Lung Cancer Screening in Turkiye

Merve AYIK TURK1, Berna KOMURCUOGLU2, Seher SUSAM3, Ozgur BATUM4, Bilge SALIK2, Yunus TURK5, Emel TELLIOGLU2, Fatma DEMIRCI UCSULAR2, Filiz GULDAVAL2, Gunseli BALCI2, Mine GAYAF2, Nimet AKSEL2, Aydan MERTOGLU2

1Department of Pulmonology, Izmir Bozyaka Training and Research Hospital
2Department of Pulmonology, Dr. Suat Seren Chest Diseases and Surgery Training and Research Hospital
3Department of Radiology, Dr. Suat Seren Chest Diseases and Surgery Training and Research Hospital
4Izmir City Hospital, Department of Pulmonology
5Izmir City Hospital, Department of Thorocic Surgery

There are risk-based screening programs for lung cancer screening in the world. There is no screening program for lung cancer in Turkiye. The aim of our study was to investigate the incidence of pulmonary nodules and lung cancer detected incidentally with computed tomography scans performed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thoracic Computed Tomography (CT) scans performed with suspicion of COVID-19 between 11.03.2020 and 31.03.2022 were analyzed as a single-center and retrospective cohort. Patients with a history of previously diagnosed malignancy or in the follow-up with solitary pulmonary nodules were excluded. A total of 2381 patients were examined, and the mean age was 50.42± 17.03 years. While 267 (11.2%) patients had solitary pulmonary nodules on CT scans, 66 (2.7%) patients were diagnosed with lung cancer. Patients were categorized according to age. The risk of pulmonary nodules increased 1.92-fold between the ages of 51-60, 2.26-fold between the ages of 61-70, and 2.05-fold above the age of 70 compared to age 50 (p< 0.001 for all). Compared to age 50, the risk of developing lung cancer increased 10.3-fold between the ages of 51-60, 33.5-fold between the ages of 61-70, and 34.5-fold above the age of 70 (p< 0.001 for all). In our study, we observed that the risk of incidental detection of pulmonary nodules and lung cancer increased with the age above 50. With this cohort study, we aimed to provide an overview of lung cancer risk prediction models and applications for lung cancer screening.