Role Of LDCT Chest In Assessment Of Apparently Healthy Smokers

Tobacco smoking is the leading preventable cause of death worldwide .Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease will be responsible for the majority of deaths in the developed world in the coming decades .

COPD is characterised by chronic airflow limitation caused by a combination of small airway inflammation and parenchymal destruction (emphysema) . Since computed tomography (CT) has been validated as a non-invasive technique capable of identifying areas of lung parenchyma with emphysema , several studies have identified a subgroup of apparently healthy smokers who have emphysema but no airway obstruction Furthermore, this subgroup has the highest risk of developing lung cancer among smokers .It has been proposed that systemic inflammation may play an important pathogenic role in carcinogenesis . We will conducted this cross sectional study between. current and former smokers without airway obstruction participating in a lung cancer screening study: a study group of smokers with emphysema on the CT, and a control group of smokers without emphysema.