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Two Views on Lung Screening, Regulating Autonomous AI, and Refining BAC
April 30, 2026
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Together with
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“Despite improvements, adherence to annual lung cancer screening remained low and uneven in 2024, underscoring the need to strengthen and expand programs and policies that increase uptake among eligible adults.”
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Burus T et al, in a JAMA Internal Medicine research letter on CT lung screening.
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Radiology and cardiology are turning to enterprise imaging platforms to help them break out of silos and benefit from a shared platform for medical image management. But what does that transformation look like in practice? Join us on Tuesday, May 19 at 12 pm ET / 9 am PT for a live discussion hosted by AGFA HealthCare featuring radiologists and cardiologists from the same health system who successfully implemented shared enterprise imaging.
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Two new research studies published this week offer slightly conflicting views on the progress of CT lung cancer screening. One study saw the screening adherence rate rising to nearly 25%, while another revealed that screening might not be as effective in the real world as it was in the landmark National Lung Screening Trial.
Low-dose CT lung cancer screening was approved for Medicare reimbursement in 2015 following promising NLST results, but the exam was slow to catch on.
- That’s begun to change as U.S. physicians identify how to get eligible high-risk people into screening, while other countries are launching organized population-based screening programs, Germany being the most recent.
In the first study this week, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers calculated the most recent uptake rate for LDCT lung cancer screening.
- Data from 26.1k people from the BRFSS survey in 2024 were analyzed and compared to 2022 data.
The rate of up-to-date LDCT screening prevalence in 2024…
- Rose six percentage points (24% vs. 18%).
- Differed by just 0.5 percentage points between men and women.
- Was highest and rose the most for people ages 65-69 (33%, increasing by 9 percentage points).
- But still lagged screening rates for other cancers like breast (80%), cervical (75%), and colorectal (67%).
This week’s second study was published in JAMA Network Open and offers additional context, finding that real-world lung screening may not reduce all-cause mortality by as much as what was seen in the NLST.
- Researchers analyzed screening’s effectiveness in a program run by the U.S. Veterans Health Administration, which has one of the more successful lung screening programs in the country.
They compared five-year all-cause mortality rates in the VA program for 732 people who were screened, finding that, compared to NLST…
- Mortality rates were 2.5X higher in the VA population (24% vs. 9.7%).
- VA participants had 3X the mortality risk (HR = 2.98).
VA researchers noted that while their population met the same screening eligibility criteria as NLST, the VA patients were sicker and probably less likely to see as much long-term benefit from LDCT screening.
The Takeaway
This week’s studies are a window into the complex changes underway in CT lung cancer screening. While screening’s rising participation rate is good news, the mortality findings show that estimating screening’s effectiveness is more complex than simply overlaying NLST results on real-world populations.
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Radiology Case Report
A man in his 40s presented with a known metastasis within his abdomen. Learn how contrast-enhanced MRI helped to diagnose the extent of his disease.
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Building Bridges Across Imaging Informatics
Visit Medicom at Booth #615 at SIIM 2026 to see how their automated workflows move every image to where it needs to go, connecting patients, providers, EHRs, and research teams without manual workarounds. Book your demo today.
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- Smoking Cessation and Lung Cancer Screening: Smoking cessation advice should be an essential part of any CT lung cancer screening program, but researchers in Spain found a disconnect with patients. Among 245 high-risk people from the 4-IN-THE-LUNG-RUN study who completed a survey, only 36% considered themselves at risk of developing lung cancer. And while 75% of current smokers said they wanted to quit smoking, 79% said they would keep smoking after a negative lung screening scan. Still, authors see lung screening as a teachable moment for smoking cessation.
- CT + Liquid Biopsy Predicts Lung Cancer Outcomes: Combining CT-derived radiomics with liquid biopsy data in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer better predicted outcomes than standard clinical models. In 91 patients, researchers extracted CT radiomics scores using the PyRadiomics open-source model and added them to data from circulating tumor DNA tests. The combination outperformed a clinical model in predicting disease-free survival (C-index = 0.77 vs. 0.59), showing its value as a less invasive alternative to conventional clinical or molecular markers for NSCLC.
- New Regulatory Approach to Autonomous AI: One of the most exciting areas of artificial intelligence is autonomous AI – in which algorithms make clinical decisions independent of physician oversight. But autonomous AI may require an entirely new regulatory approach. That’s the conclusion of a thought-provoking essay in JAMA that suggests a six-point approach to autonomous AI regulation, including competency certification, supervised clinical deployment, and time-limited certification. It also suggests the creation of an Office of Clinical AI Oversight within HHS to implement the new framework.
- Real-World AI Monitoring: Meanwhile, ACR researchers offer a mechanism for real-world monitoring of AI performance in a new paper in JACR. They review the ACR’s Assess-AI registry, launched in 2024 as a database for imaging facilities to compare performance of their AI algorithms to those of their peers. As of the paper’s publication, Assess-AI stored de-identified data from 16 sites representing 48.4k patients, and supports comparisons across different clinical use cases. Participating facilities can download reports via interactive dashboards.
- Aidoc Raises $150M: Aidoc showed its continued prowess in raising capital by announcing a massive $150M Series E funding round that brings the company’s total funding to over $500M. The round was led by the Goldman Sachs Alternatives fund and included investments from venture capital firms run by SoftBank and NVIDIA. The new funds will be used to push commercialization of Aidoc’s CARE foundation model, which it used to develop a package of AI triage applications that received FDA clearance earlier this year.
- Refining BAC Cardiovascular Predictions: A new study refines predictions of cardiovascular risk using AI-based calculations of breast arterial calcification by adjusting them to the patient’s age. In the study in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, researchers used a research version of CureMetrix’s cmAngio software to analyze screening mammograms of 21.5k women and develop age-adjusted BAC calculations correlated to major adverse cardiovascular events. Over a mean follow-up of 4.7 years, every 10-percentile increase in BAC was associated with a 17% increase in MACE risk.
- GE Streamlines Corporate Structure: GE HealthCare is streamlining its corporate structure to merge its two imaging device segments. GE’s Imaging and Advanced Visualization Solutions units will be combined into the Advanced Imaging Solutions group, led by Phil Rackliffe. Meanwhile, Catherine Estrampes was appointed chief commercial and growth officer for GE HealthCare, leading its Global Markets region encompassing all markets except China. Separately, GE HealthCare lowered its outlook for the rest of 2026 due to the impact of rising prices like memory chips, oil, and freight services.
- New Guidelines Support Prostate Screening: An influential network of U.S. cancer centers has come out in favor of prostate cancer screening. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network published patient guidelines that advocate starting screening at 40 for high-risk men and 45-75 for all others, with guidance for men older than 75 as well. The guidance notes that prostate screening is simple enough to be conducted with PSA blood tests, while imaging can help avoid biopsies in many people, reducing screening’s harms like unnecessary testing.
- Visage Renews Northwestern Contract for $27M: Visage Imaging signed a five-year enterprise image management contract renewal with Northwestern Medicine worth $27M USD. Northwestern standardized its enterprise network on Visage five years ago, and the contract extension includes an increased fee per exam as well as a commitment from Northwestern for an increase in minimum exam volume. The extension comes on the heels of another big academic contract for Visage, at the University of Maryland Medical System.
- Azra AI Acquires Thynk Health: In a move that unites two developers of oncology software, Azra AI acquired Thynk Health, a Lexington, Kentucky-based firm that develops software for performing CT lung cancer screening and tracking incidental findings. Azra’s software helps clinicians track patients by integrating data from radiology and pathology, and includes clinical trials matching, while Thynk’s applications specifically address patient management in lung screening. The combination gives users broader functionality within a single software platform.
- Avatar Gets FDA Nod for 3D Software: Avatar Medical received FDA 510(k) clearance for Avatar Medical Vision, a platform that enables patients and clinicians to view CT and MR images in 3D on medical monitors without special glasses. The solution is intended as a communication aid in specialties like neurosurgery, ENT, orthopedics, and interventional radiology, enabling users to move beyond “flat” 3D images on 2D monitors. Avatar partnered with Barco to develop the Eonis Vision line of displays for glasses-free 3D image viewing.
- Enlitic Integrates with Sectra: Data standardization company Enlitic completed work on integrating its solutions with Sectra, giving users of Sectra’s enterprise image management software better access to Enlitic’s Ensight platform. Ensight helps healthcare organizations standardize and structure their imaging data, and the Sectra integration will make Ensight tools more easily accessible within their existing workflows.
- SimonMed Deploys AIRS Software: Imaging services provider SimonMed is deploying AIRS Medical’s SwiftMR AI-based MRI enhancement solution across its national network of over 170 centers in 10 states. SwiftMR improves image quality, speeds up scan times, and enhances workflow across MRI scanners from multiple vendors, without the need for additional hardware.
- Rad AI Retools C-Suite: Rad AI this week announced new appointments to its C-suite of executives. David Leonard was tapped as the company’s chief operating officer after previously serving as head of operations, strategy, and investor relations. In another move, Elizabeth Bergey, MD, was promoted to the role of chief clinical officer after previously serving as chief medical innovation officer, and she will lead Rad AI’s clinical strategy and medical affairs.
- Calidar Completes Enrollment for 4D Mammography: Startup breast imaging developer Calidar completed patient enrollment for a first-in-human clinical study of its 4D mammography technology, which uses X-ray diffraction to measure molecular-level changes in breast tissue. Baptist Health Hardin in Kentucky is conducting the study, in which 61 patients received 4D mammography and conventional breast imaging with the goal of determining the technology’s ability to differentiate malignant from benign tissue. Calidar is preparing a Series A funding to support a multi-site pivotal study.
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What Can 3D Offer Your MSK and Trauma Workflow?
Explore clinical applications and real-world insights in this whitepaper from Siemens Healthineers about distortion-free X-ray imaging in sagittal, coronal, and axial planes plus rendered bone volumes that can support confident diagnoses without magnification issues.
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A New Solution for Radiology Reporting
Sectra Reporting delivers a fully built-in, AI-enhanced reporting experience that seamlessly connects PACS imaging data and measurements through intuitive templates. Discover how it can meet your needs today.
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- Visit Visage at SIIM 2026: At this year’s SIIM 2026, Visage Imaging will demonstrate its Visage 7 solution operating across the entire Apple ecosystem, including on Apple Silicon-powered workstations with multiple Studio Display XDRs. Book a priority demo today or drop by booth #404-408.
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