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Imagine going in for a CT scan because of a concern that may have nothing to do with cancer. A few days later, you hear the scan revealed a small spot on your lung, called an indeterminate pulmonary nodule (IPN). Your doctor explains that most nodules are not cancer, but some can be an early sign of lung cancer. The next step is not always clear.
For many people, that uncertainty would feel overwhelming. Should the nodule be watched over time? Should more scans be ordered? Is a biopsy needed, even if the nodule may turn out to be benign? Each of these approaches carries its own burden, from anxiety and repeated appointments to the possibility of an invasive biopsy.
This is not a rare situation. More than 1.5 million people in the United States receive CT scan results showing an IPN each year. For many of them, today’s non-invasive tools do not yet provide enough information to confidently tell whether a nodule is benign or cancerous.
People deserve a better way to understand IPNs. LUNGevity Foundation and the Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research are investing $2 million in two early detection research projects focused on one urgent need: Providing doctors with quick and easy ways to determine the likelihood of their IPN being cancerous.
If this work is successful in real clinical settings, patients could receive timely, accurate information about their scans and medical teams would be able to offer close follow up care, additional testing, or early interventions as needed.
One project, led by Steven Dubinett, MD, at the University of California, Los Angeles, will study whether combining advanced CT image analysis with a blood-based test can help estimate the chance that an IPN is cancerous.
The other project, led by Lecia Sequist, MD, MPH, at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, will evaluate Sybil, an open-source artificial intelligence model that analyzes CT scans to estimate lung cancer risk. This work studies how an AI-driven approach performs for adults with low-risk pulmonary nodules in a clinical trial setting.
Together, these investments support scientific progress that is centered on the needs of patients. These projects recognize that early detection research is not only about finding lung cancer sooner. It is also about providing patients facing IPNs with a clear path forward.
Read the official press release to learn more about this exciting research.
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