According to a new study, a test for four blood proteins may provide a less-invasive follow up for patients having suspicious lesions on chest radiographs or computerized tomography (CT) scans.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center lead the study.

Study’s lead author, Edward Patz, Jr., M.D., a radiologist at D.U. said, “CT scans have a very high false positive rate when trying to discover lung cancer,”

What that leads to is several follow-up imaging studies or invasive procedures like biopsy, which have risks of their own. This study is the first step in developing a test that would allow us to sample a patient's blood and determine whether more invasive testing and treatment are necessary,” he added.

Researchers studied four proteins in blood and found their levels were different in patients with lung cancer as compared to patients of same age and gender who did not have cancer. They compared the levels of proteins in blood of almost 100 patients known to have lung cancer to levels in blood of nearly 100 patients without cancer.  

“Using the four markers, known as CEA, RBP, SCC and AAT, we were able to distinguish patients who had cancer from those who didn’t with over 80 percent accuracy,” Patz said.

CT scanning has been proposed for routine lung cancer screening, but it detects many nodules, and leads to more invasive and risky treatment.   

“We talk about how devastating this disease is all the time, but we still don't have a screening system in place that can detect lung cancer early, without exposing patients to the risks of biopsy and surgery,” Patz said.

The study is published in journal of Clinical Oncology.

Another new study says, eat more salads and take care of garden to keep lung cancer at bay.  

Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre found that salad intake and gardening reduces chances of developing lung cancer for smokers and non-smokers.

Michele R Forman, PhD, lead author of the study and a professor in M D Anderson's Department of Epidemiology, said, “This is the first risk prediction model to examine the effects of diet and physical activity on the possibility of developing lung cancer.”

In study, about 3,800 participants were looked where separate epidemiologic risk assessment models were developed for smokers and non smokers.