Understanding False Alarms in Lung Cancer Screening
Official title: Lung Cancer Screening: Cumulative Risk and Multilevel Impact of False Positive Findings
Funded at Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill · NIH-11141221 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how often false alarms happen in lung cancer screening and how they affect patients, doctors, and healthcare systems.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Chapel Hill, United States) |
| Project start | July 18, 2024 |
| Project end | June 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $643,636 |
| NIH project number | 5R01CA285976-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11141221 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Patients who are currently undergoing or are candidates for lung cancer screening, particularly those aged 50-80 with a significant smoking history, would be ideal.
✕Less likely to help
Individuals who are not candidates for lung cancer screening based on age or smoking history would not directly benefit from this particular research.
What this research studies
The National Lung Screening Trial showed that lung cancer screening can save lives, but it also found many false-positive results. These false alarms mean you might need more tests or procedures, which can cause worry and extra costs, even if you don't have cancer. This project wants to understand the full impact of these false alarms on people like you, your doctors, and the healthcare system over time. By learning more about why false positives happen and their effects, we hope to make lung cancer screening better and less stressful for everyone.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to improved lung cancer screening methods that reduce unnecessary worry and procedures for patients.
How similar studies have gone: While lung cancer screening efficacy is established, this specific focus on the cumulative and multilevel impact of false positives in real-world settings is a novel area of investigation.
Where this research is happening
-
Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Henderson, Louise — Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
- Study coordinator: Henderson, Louise
Related research
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Integrated approach to lung screening and quitting for African Americans
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Population health approach to boost lung cancer screening at community clinics
A large Utah project aims to help community clinics reach more eligible adults to get low-dose CT lung cancer screening.
-
Group-based tobacco treatment for older adults after lung cancer screening
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Personalized Lung Cancer Screening for Veterans
Aimed at improving who gets screened and how lung cancer is diagnosed among Veterans using personalized tools.
-
Proteogenomic framework to improve lung cancer screening with biomarkers
A biomarker-based approach aims to refine LDCT lung cancer screening so more cancers are caught early while reducing unnecessary procedures.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.