Research into lung cancer early diagnosis and screening
Researchers around the world are looking at better ways to diagnose lung cancer.
Go to Cancer Research UK’s clinical trials database if you are looking for a trial for lung cancer in the UK. You need to talk to your specialist if there are any trials that you think you might be able to take part in.
Click on the ‘recruiting’, ‘closed’ and ‘results’ tabs to make sure you see all the trials.
Some of the trials on this page might have now stopped recruiting people. It takes time before the results are available. This is because the trial team follow the patients for a period of time and collects and analyses the results. We have included this ongoing research to give examples of the type of research being carried out in lung cancer.
Research and clinical trials
All cancer treatments must be fully researched before they can be used for everyone. This is so we can be sure that:
- they work
- they work better than the treatments already available
- they are safe
Screening
Screening means testing people for early stages of a disease. This is before they have any symptoms. In the UK, the National Screening Committee recommends inviting people at high risk of lung cancer to screening. This is called targeted lung cancer screening.
When it’s up and running, everyone aged between 55 and 74 who either smokes or used to smoke will get an invite for an assessment. If this shows that you are at high risk of lung cancer, you will be offered a low dose CT scan of the lungs.
Some people have been invited for Lung Health Checks in parts of England since the Autumn of 2019. This will continue while the screening programme is being introduced.
Other research projects on lung health checks are taking place in other areas of England.
Researchers are also looking into the psychological impact of lung screening. They hope to guide healthcare professionals to promote people’s well being and minimise distress and worry.
Tests to help diagnose lung cancer
Biomarkers
Researchers are looking for proteins in blood, breath, urine and tissue samples to see if any are linked to lung cancer. They hope to one day develop a blood or urine test to show up these proteins (
) to:
- diagnose lung cancer more easily
- spot lung cancer earlier if it comes back after treatment
Electronic tools to assess the risk of cancer (ERICA)
Researchers at the University of Exeter have developed electronic risk assessment tools (eRATs). This is to help GPs identify possible cancers. The eRATS looks at any symptoms in your medical records. It calculates your risk of getting cancer. It doesn’t mean that you definitely have cancer.
In this study, the researchers are comparing eRATs with the usual care to find:
- if using eRATs diagnoses cancer at an earlier stage
- if it reduces the cost to the NHS
- out how using eRATs might affect patients views of care and their quality of life
Scans, blood tests and lung fluids
Researchers are looking at scans, blood tests and lung fluid tests to improve diagnosis for people with fluid in the lung lining () or thickening of the lung lining. Having fluid in the lining of your lung is a common condition. It could be a symptom of many other conditions, including lung cancer.
Doctors want to improve how they diagnose the cause of fluid or thickening in the lung lining. If used at the right time, people may need fewer tests and can be given the correct treatment sooner.
The main aim of this study is to build a new pathway of investigation. This will help doctors to diagnose the cause of conditions where the lung lining has thickened or collected fluid.
Blood samples and nose swabs (IDx Lung)
In this study, researchers are taking blood samples and tissue swabs from inside the nose of people who are taking part in a lung health check programme. This is, for example, the NHS Lung Health Checks. The study is for people from Manchester, Southampton and Yorkshire in the UK.
As part of the NHS Lung Health Check, you might have a of the lungs. The researchers want to find out whether using these samples, as well as the CT scan results, helps improve lung cancer diagnosis.
A computer programme to help improve diagnosis (DART)
Researchers are developing and testing a computer programme to help diagnose lung cancer earlier. It is for people who have had a CT scan as part of the NHS Lung Health Checks. A CT scan is for those at higher risk.
The researchers want to improve Lung Health Checks further and help the NHS to make them available to more people. To do this, they are using a computer programme to look at lung nodules on CT scans. The researchers hope it can:
- identify nodules that are not cancer and are harmless
- speed up the time to diagnose early lung cancer
- reduce the need for other tests such as tissue samples
- allow the NHS to reach many more people for Lung Health Checks
Blood samples and tissue samples to look at genes (ASCENT)
In this study, researchers collect blood and tissue samples from lung cancer patients. It is also for people suspected of having lung cancer. It is open to people who took part in the:
- SUMMIT study
- or the NHS targeted lung check programme
In the ASCENT study, the researchers take blood samples. They also take a piece of the lung tissue that the surgeon removes during surgery. They use these samples to look at the of the cancer cells and .
They also look at the results of any scans or tests you have from the time of screening to surgery. The team want to see if they can identify patterns that might suggest lung cancer. They hope that by doing this in the future, doctors can better understand and diagnose lung cancer.
Using a robot to help diagnose lung cancer (Endoluminal System – Ion)
In this study, doctors use a robot to biopsy small, hard-to-reach lung . This can help people with suspected lung cancer get diagnosed much earlier.
The robot is called the Ion Endoluminal System (Ion). It helps doctors to insert a thin and flexible tube into your lung through the mouth. It can reach lung nodules that might be cancer.
The robot is more accurate and precise than existing techniques. So lung nodules which may otherwise have been monitored for long periods, can now be diagnosed earlier with this type of biopsy.
Using the robot to do a biopsy is also less invasive and has fewer risks. This is compared with the usual technique of inserting a needle from outside the body into the lungs.
A new test to diagnose a second cancer after treatment for lung cancer (SPORT)
Researchers are looking at developing a new blood test. This test is to diagnose another cancer after having had treatment for non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It is open to people who had treatment at least 2 years ago to cure their primary lung cancer. People who had NSCLC have a greater chance of developing another primary cancer.
In this study, the researchers will take blood samples. They want to develop a test. The test looks for bits of cancer that might be in the blood. The researchers also want to know how:
- long after treatment another primary cancer develops
- well they can detect cancers before symptoms appear or when the cancer is coming back
