4 Recommendations for further research

Guidance

4.1 Further research is recommended on:

The accuracy of EarlyCDT Lung, and the validity of the risk models used to combine EarlyCDT Lung results with the Brock and the Herder risk models.
The impact of EarlyCDT Lung on clinical management decisions.

4.2 A large retrospective audit is recommended to:

Understand how patient and nodule characteristics impact on malignancy prevalence and disease progression.
Understand current practice regarding clinical management of people with intermediate-risk lung nodules.
Determine the clinical consequences of CT surveillance, including the likelihood of disease progression during CT surveillance.
Determine the likelihood and impact of unnecessary biopsy or resection of indolent and benign nodules

If existing data on these points is limited or not routinely collected, a prospective data collection should be undertaken to obtain it.