The American College of Radiology (ACR) is lauding the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) for updates it is proposing for its lung cancer screening guidelines.
Proposed on July 7, the new guidelines would lower the starting age for screening for lung cancer with low-dose CT from 55 to 50 and the smoking history from 30 pack years to 20 pack years. The ACR is also recommending that the USPSTF extend the quit-smoking requirement from 15 years to 20 years.
"Lung cancer kills more people each year than breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined," said Dr. Debra Dyer, chair of the ACR's Lung Cancer Screening 2.0 Committee. "Particularly with the new more-sensible pack-year threshold, if implemented nationwide, this cost-effective test would save more lives than any cancer-screening test in history."
The USPSTF is taking comment on its proposed guideline update through August 3.
![Images show the pectoralis muscles of a healthy male individual who never smoked (age, 66 years; height, 178 cm; body mass index [BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared], 28.4; number of cigarette pack-years, 0; forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1], 97.6% predicted; FEV1: forced vital capacity [FVC] ratio, 0.71; pectoralis muscle area [PMA], 59.4 cm2; pectoralis muscle volume [PMV], 764 cm3) and a male individual with a smoking history and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) (age, 66 years; height, 178 cm; BMI, 27.5; number of cigarette pack-years, 43.2, FEV1, 48% predicted; FEV1:FVC, 0.56; PMA, 35 cm2; PMV, 480.8 cm3) from the Canadian Cohort Obstructive Lung Disease (i.e., CanCOLD) study. The CT image is shown in the axial plane. The PMV is automatically extracted using the developed deep learning model and overlayed onto the lungs for visual clarity.](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/03/genkin.25LqljVF0y.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=focalpoint&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
