The Search is on for a Better way to Diagnose Lung Cancer

In an effort to improve survival rates for lung cancer, a five-year National Cancer Institute-funded project is underway at UW Medicine.

"Diagnostic tests have known error rates," said the research project leader Dr. Farhood Farjah., associate professor of surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and associate director of the Surgical Outcomes Research Center at UW Medicine.

CT and PET scans both have false positives and negatives. If physicians relay on imaging along, the cancer's stage, or whether the disease has spread, might be classified incorrectly. This could inadvertently result in...