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Comment & Response
June 2019

Complication Rates in a Study of Invasive Diagnostic Procedures for Lung Abnormalities

Author Affiliations
  • 1Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
JAMA Intern Med. 2019;179(6):846-847. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.0960

To the Editor The study by Huo and colleagues1 reported high complication rates and associated costs from procedures likely to be encountered by patients undergoing lung cancer screening using computed tomography (CT). This has been a topic of concern among clinicians and policymakers initiating such screening programs given the high false-positive rate of CT scans, the concern that real-world patients will have more comorbidities than reported in the National Lung Screening Trial, and the possibility of higher complication rates at centers less experienced with such screening programs.2 For these reasons, the study by Huo et al1 addresses important issues. However, we believe that the complication rates are overstated, which may lead to delays in implementation of screening programs.

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