{
  "abstract": "Lung cancer screening (LCS) with low-dose CT (LDCT) aims to reduce lung cancer-related mortality.1 2 This benefit is achieved by detecting lung cancer at an asymptomatic, early stage, thereby enabling curative-intent treatments such as surgical resection or stereotactic radiotherapy. However, among the many nodules detected through LDCT screening, only a small proportion ultimately turn out to be lung cancer (3.6% in the National Lung Screening Trial).1 Consequently, distinguishing malignant from benign nodules forms a critical challenge of any effective LCS programme. Current LCS programmes generally incorporate longitudinal LDCT surveillance, additional imaging modalities such as contrast-enhanced CT and positron emission tomography, and invasive tissue sampling when indicated.3 Although imaging surveillance is often necessary to observe nodule behaviour over time and to identify progression warranting further intervention, this period of ‘watchful waiting’ may delay diagnostic work-up and raise concern about missing the optimal window for early treatment. Even among patients with stage I disease without nodal or distant metastasis, an increase in tumour size leading to T-stage upstaging is linked to worse survival outcomes.4 This underscores the complexity and importance of improving diagnostic precision and optimising post-detection workflows following a positive LCS result.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of)"
      ],
      "name": "So Yeon Kim"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea (the Republic of)"
      ],
      "name": "Yeon Wook Kim"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Beyond detection: what happens after lung cancer screening matters more",
  "uid": "9a5c98aa-7880-5312-85c1-27388bca9727"
}