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How to Improve CT Lung Screening | Screening Barriers
March 20, 2025
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Together with
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“There’s a disconnect between what the guidelines want us to do and what the insurance companies say they’re going to allow. . . . I’ve had to actually talk to the medical directors of these insurance companies to ask them to give the OK because it gets denied. And these are just all barriers we all have. It’s all a time sink.”
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Quote from respondent to Groner et al survey on barriers to CT lung cancer screening.
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Independent imaging practices face a variety of pressures today. In this on-demand Imaging Wire webinar, we discuss how new imaging IT tools can help independent imaging practices thrive in 2025. Guests include Erinn Suadi and Lorenzo Michaels of Stockdale Radiology and Breda Drury of RamSoft.
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Getting patients to attend cancer screening exams is one of the biggest challenges in healthcare. But a new study in JAMA Network Open should provide motivation, showing that people who showed up for annual CT lung cancer screening exams had better clinical outcomes than those who didn’t.
Low cancer screening adherence frustrates clinicians and healthcare policy experts alike, but nowhere is the situation as dire as in CT lung cancer screening.
- U.S. lung screening adherence rates languished in the single digits for years after the exam was approved by the USPSTF, and while there has been some recent improvement, screening rates are nowhere near those of more established exams like mammography.
At the same time, statistical modeling studies (and common sense) suggest that complying with screening would reduce lung cancer mortality.
- So researchers from multiple institutions in the U.S. and Canada decided to track adherence to a real-world CT lung screening program consisting of a baseline scan and then two follow-up scans roughly a year apart.
In all, 10.2k eligible adults were screened from 2015 to 2018, with researchers finding …
- Screening adherence rates fell from the first follow-up round to the second (61% to 51%).
- People who attended the first follow-up round were more likely to attend the second (67% vs. 25%).
- Patients who completed both screening rounds had higher lung cancer diagnosis rates (1% vs. 0.2%).
- Patients who attended the second round and got a lung cancer diagnosis were more likely to have early-stage disease (73% vs. 25%) and less likely to have late-stage disease (21% vs. 58%).
In analyzing the results, researchers said the drop-off in adherence rates between the first and second follow-up screening rounds represented an opportunity to reach out to people who missed the first round and get them to the second.
- This position dovetails with other recent research underscoring the importance of patient navigators in guiding eligible people to lung cancer screening.
The Takeaway
So as radiology and other disciplines look to build on the momentum behind CT lung cancer screening, what’s the key to success in improving patient outcomes? Sometimes, it’s just getting people to show up.
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AI for Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Screening
Check out this comprehensive new eBook from Calantic by Bayer on the role of AI in lung cancer diagnosis and screening. It explores AI’s potential role in improving lung cancer screening strategies, identifying high-risk individuals, and enhancing diagnostic accuracy. Download it today.
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MRI That’s Lighter, Faster, and Sharper
Rise above and experience MRI excellence with Philips BlueSeal, the industry’s lightest, vent pipe-free, high-performance, helium-free 1.5T scanner. Watch this video to see how it can benefit your practice.
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AI for Pediatric Fracture Detection
Pediatric fractures are common but can be easily missed on radiography. Meanwhile, AI tools for fracture detection have mostly been tested in adults. Learn how Gleamer’s BoneView AI solution helped clinicians find fractures in kids in a recent research study.
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- Patient Factors Affecting Lung Screening: In a related study, researchers explored other patient factors affecting adherence to CT lung cancer screening. A study in Clinical Lung Cancer analyzed patient survey responses to find 25% of 1.1M eligible individuals got screened in the past year. Screening was more common in those with insurance (OR=3.7), people ages 70-80 (OR=1.78), and those with poor health status (OR=1.28), and less likely among minority groups (OR range=0.77-0.79).
- Breaking Down Lung Screening’s Barriers: Finally, another study – this one in JACR – looked at what radiologists can do to break down barriers slowing CT lung cancer screening. Researchers interviewed primary care physicians and found five major themes impeding lung screening, ranging from insurance pre-authorization problems to lack of patient follow-through. Fortunately, the authors offer a road map for radiologists to reach out, change behaviors, and identify eligible screening candidates.
- Riverain Gets CAC Approval in Canada: Riverain Technologies received approval from Health Canada to market its ClearRead CT CAC technology for opportunistic screening of coronary artery calcification from ungated non-contrast chest CT scans. The technology builds on Riverain’s ClearRead CT vessel suppression algorithm by generating automated Agatston scores and classifying patient risk without requiring dedicated cardiac CT scans. Riverain launched the solution at RSNA 2024 after getting FDA clearance in December.
- Riverain Partners with CARPL: In other news from Riverain Technologies, the company partnered with CARPL.ai to make its solutions available on CARPL’s AI platform. Riverain’s ClearRead CT and ClearRead XRay will be available on the CARPL AI marketplace to help clinicians identify lung nodules earlier, reduce missed nodules, and quantify coronary artery calcification.
- Hold the Gadolinium for Prostate MRI? Waiting to use gadolinium contrast during prostate MRI scans until patients need it can be an effective strategy. In a study of 598 patients in European Radiology, researchers delayed gadolinium-based dynamic contrast-enhanced sequences in favor of biparametric MRI with noncontrast T2 and DWI protocols, with DCE only used if a radiologist at tableside determined it was necessary (24%). There was no statistically significant difference in sensitivity, specificity, and biopsy rates, and the protocol would save $74,000 over 18 months.
- GE Expands NVIDIA Partnership: NVIDIA’s annual GTC 2025 conference is underway in San Jose, California, and GE HealthCare used the event to unveil an expansion of its medical AI partnership with the GPU giant. GE will leverage NVIDIA’s new Isaac for Healthcare platform to develop new AI applications in ultrasound and X-ray, with a focus on autonomous AI. In both cases, the companies want to use AI to automate repetitive tasks performed by technologists and sonographers to streamline workflow and reduce physical strain.
- Hyperfine Partners with NVIDIA: Another radiology vendor that’s partnering with NVIDIA is Hyperfine, which will be building NVIDIA AI technology into its portable MRI scanners. The companies will work together to leverage NVIDIA technologies like DALI and MONAI to add AI-powered image reconstruction and real-time clinical decision support into workflows for Hyperfine’s Swoop ultralow-field MRI scanner. The partnership’s goal is to improve Swoop’s image quality, reduce scan times, and enable faster and more reliable diagnoses.
- Liver AI Is Cost-Effective: Perspectum’s LiverMultiScan AI algorithm helped reduce costs, avoid unnecessary liver biopsy, and improve clinical management of patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). In the RADIcAL-1 study of 802 patients, LiverMultiScan’s analysis of multiparametric MRI scans cut unnecessary liver biopsies by 50%, ultrasound scans by 29%, improved diagnosis rates 10%, and had an ICER per QALY gained of $5,369. MASLD affects 30% of people in North America and Europe, and new drugs are becoming available to treat it.
- Subtle Gets CE Mark for SubtleHD: Subtle Medical received the CE Mark for its SubtleHD software for AI-based acceleration of MRI scans. The algorithm got FDA clearance earlier this year and enables providers to perform MRI scans up to 80% faster for some sequences, then applies denoising and sharpening to produce high-quality images. The software is particularly suitable in Europe, where many countries have long MRI scanner wait times due to high demand, limited scanner availability, and workforce shortages.
- HeartLung to Launch AutoChamber at ACC: HeartLung Technologies is planning to use ACC 2025 to launch its AutoChamber software for analyzing chest CT scans to detect cardiomegaly and enlarged cardiac chambers that are often missed on routine CT. The application estimates cardiac volume, cardiac chamber volumes, and left ventricular wall mass, and results can be added to coronary artery calcium and CCTA scans. HeartLung and AutoChamber will also be competing in ACC’s Early-Stage Innovation Pitch Challenge.
- AI’s Impact on Mammo Reads: In a new study in Radiology, researchers performed a secondary analysis of the ScreenTrustCAD trial of Lunit’s Insight MMG algorithm for breast screening of 55k women in various reading scenarios. Recall rates were lower if flagged initially by AI versus a single radiologist (4.6% vs. 14%) while the proportion of exams positive for cancer was higher if flagged by AI (22% vs. 3.4%). The findings could indicate radiologists make different decisions based on whether input comes from AI or another radiologist.
- Siemens Taps New Americas Leader: Siemens Healthineers named John Kowal to succeed David Pacitti as president and head of its Americas business. Pacitti led the business for seven years, and is moving on to become CEO of medical device company Avanos Medical. Kowal is a 20-year veteran of Siemens’ Varian Medical Systems radiation therapy business, where he was president of Americas for the past eight years.
- Lunit Lands Middle East Contract: Lunit will be supplying its Insight MMG mammography AI algorithm to Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), the largest healthcare network in the United Arab Emirates. In a five-year agreement that followed a successful pilot evaluation, Insight MMG will be deployed across SEHA’s network of 14 hospitals and 70 clinics and is expected to be used to analyze some 100k mammography images.
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Helping Providers Deliver Critical Answers to Patients
Intelerad’s new InteleGence solution helps providers deliver critical answers to patients when they need them most by deploying AI tools to simplify workflows and assist in precision diagnostics. Learn more about how InteleGence works today.
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2 Questions about AI for Radiology Leaders
Are today’s radiology AI solutions solving the right problems? And are there other solutions available for AI of brain MRI? Read this article from SpinTech MRI to learn how its STAGE solution can optimize MRI utilization.
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Challenges and Opportunities in Radiology
In this episode of Medality’s The Radiology Report podcast, Medality Co-Founder and CEO Daniel Arnold interviews Glenn Kaplan, MD, about the challenges and opportunities in radiology, including workforce shortages and capacity issues, and possible solutions.
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- Presenting Unboxing AI: Check out CARPL’s video series, Unboxing AI, featuring experts discussing AI and its future in radiology. The next episode on March 20 features Namita Gandhi, MD, of Cleveland Clinic – reserve your seat today.
- Patient-Centered Innovation with Photon-Counting CT: Siemens Healthineers is committed to transforming medical imaging with its NAEOTOM Alpha class, now featuring three photon-counting CT systems. Find out how they can enhance your diagnostic results.
- Patient Attitudes Towards AI-Echo: The medical imaging field is rapidly accepting AI, but how are patients feeling about the shift? Get the scoop on patients’ positive opinions toward Us2.ai’s software that supports task-shifting from conventional echo to AI-echo.
- Rewriting Cancer: How AI Could Reimagine Cancer Screening: Find out how DeepHealth is empowering breakthroughs in lung cancer detection with AI-driven technology in the #RewritingCancer digital series, which explores innovative solutions for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
- Preparing for the Future of Enterprise Imaging: What do health IT and imaging leaders need to know about moving medical images to the cloud? Find out how to prepare for enterprise imaging’s future in this downloadable e-book from Optum.
- Join Clearpath at RBMA 2025 in Nashville! Discover why RBMA attendees trust Clearpath to streamline access to images and documents for legal requestors, patients, and healthcare providers. Don’t miss the chance to learn how they can help your organization – schedule a meeting or visit them at booth #211.
- AI Tools for Lung Cancer Screening: CT lung cancer screening is gaining momentum around the world. Learn about AI-based nodule detection tools that can improve the accuracy of low-dose CT scans in this video from Riverain Technologies.
- Better Patient Experience, Smoother Operations: Jefferson County Health Center saved over 1,000 staff hours annually by eliminating CDs, improving patient satisfaction scores by 7.6%. See how PocketHealth improved care and efficiency at JCHC here.
- The Advantages of Cloud-Based PACS: CloudPACS offers significant advantages to healthcare providers for enterprise imaging, including no on-premise requirements and enhanced reliability. Learn more about the advantages of CloudPACS in this talk from HIMSS 2025 by Visage Imaging’s Steve Deaton.
- The Growth of AI in Pulmonology: Learn more about the capabilities of AI for chest imaging in this on-demand webinar from Blackford. You’ll hear pulmonology professionals discuss several promising areas, from acute imaging through chest X-ray analysis to lung cancer screening.
- Time to Address Radiologist Burnout and Inefficient Workflows: Mach7’s new UnityVue radiology solution is a comprehensive reading platform combining enterprise imaging, workflow orchestration, AI-driven decision support, and the tools your team needs to thrive. See for yourself on March 26 in a live product demonstration by the Mach7 team.
- Advancing AI-Driven Data Migration: Enlitic has joined forces with GE HealthCare to power the data migration feature in GE’s newly announced Genesis cloud portfolio. Learn how Enlitic’s AI-driven data migration facilitates large-scale transfers of high-quality medical imaging data.
- An Enterprise Imaging Platform to Grow: WakeMed Health & Hospitals in North Carolina is home to award-winning chest pain centers and two nationally accredited, award-winning stroke centers. Find out how WakeMed turned to enterprise imaging solutions from AGFA HealthCare to transform the way their clinicians work.
- Powering Reporting Progress with Efficiency: Radiologists are looking to maximize their efficiency with new reporting tools that integrate easily with their PACS and RIS. Learn more about solutions from Kailo Medical in this Imaging Wire Show interview with Jason Mercieca and Dieter Smith.
- 3 Ways AI Can Enhance Radiology Workflows: While disease detection was the initial driver for AI in radiology, the technology can also help improve workflows and reduce workloads for radiologists. Learn how AI can contribute in this article from Merge by Merative.
- Unprecedented Insights Made Possible with AI: With the largest normative dataset of whole-body imaging in the world, Prenuvo’s AI researchers partner with the best academic minds to understand – like never before – what “normal” aging means. Learn about their work today.
- AI-Empowered CT Workflow: CT systems from United Imaging are designed for high image quality and low dose, and their AI-empowered workflow enables fast and reproducible positioning, helping you image patients with confidence. Learn more on this page.
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