No clear winner has emerged in a head-to-head comparison of whole-body FDG-PET/CT and whole-body 3T MRI for non-small-cell lung (NSCLC) cancer staging. Unenhanced PET/CT proved better for detecting metastatic lymph nodes and soft-tissue involvement, while MR was more sensitive to the presence of brain and liver metastases. More>>

An antibody to the insulin-like growth factor type 1 receptor (IGF-1R), when given with chemotherapy, is active as first-line therapy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, especially squamous type, finds the first trial to test an IGF inhibitor in lung cancer. Daniel D. Karp, MD, of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, reported the trial results at ASCO 2008 (abstract 8015). More>>

The anti-inflammatory medication celecoxib (Celebrex) has proven to be safe and reduces a specific proliferation measurement of precancerous lesions in the lung, according to a study from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. This finding demonstrates the significance of COX-2 inhibition toward preventing lung cancer in individuals at higher risk of developing the disease. The study is the first large randomized trial of celecoxib in lung cancer prevention. More>>

CHICAGO—A genetic “fingerprint” detectable in the blood is able to predict with 80% accuracy which asymptomatic smokers will develop lung cancer 2 years later, according to investigators who described the test at ASCO 2008 (abstract 1509). More>>

A large phase III study has found that the targeted therapy cetuximab (Erbitux), combined with platinum-based chemotherapy, is effective as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This is the first time a targeted drug has shown a survival benefit as a first-line treatment for patients with NSCLC, including all subtypes of the disease, reported lead author Robert Pirker, md, associate professor of medicine at Medical University of Vienna in Austria... More>>

LAS VEGAS—CT multitasks in the lungs, serving as a tool for cancer screening, disease diagnosis, lesion characterization, and lung cancer treatment response. CT can be used more effectively to assess treatment response in lung cancer patients, but clinicians must look beyond current response parameters, Michael McNitt-Gray, PhD, said at the 2008 Stanford International Symposium on Multidetector-Row CT. More>>

BASEL—Novartis’ ASA404 has entered a phase III lung cancer trial following positive outcomes of a phase II study. More>>

Interventional pulmonologists at The Ohio State University Medical Center are using an improved and more efficient technique to diagnose lung cancer. Attached at the tip of the bronchoscope, an ultrasound probe identifies the location of the cancerous masses in a patient's chest, allowing for an accurate biopsy, or tissue sample, under ultrasound guidance. More>>

In this edition of Clinical Quandaries, Ramalingam et al present a 67-year-old man who seeks care for a new, asymptomatic left upper lobe lung mass, which was found incidentally on a routine chest x-ray as part of a preoperative work-up for an elective surgery. Further staging studies included a computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest and a positron-emission tomography (PET) scan followed by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the liver. Pathology from a fine-needle aspiration biopsy... More>>

Despite the high prevalence of brain metastases in patients with metastatic lung cancer, these patients have been excluded from enrollment in clinical trials of new therapeutic drugs. The reasons for exclusion have centered on concerns that the blood-brain barrier may impede drug delivery into brain metastases, that brain metastases confer a dismal survival for metastatic lung cancer patients, and that brain metastases carry risk for cerebrovascular hemorrhage. A focused, updated review of these... More>>