The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST)
An NLST summary, found at the link below, is offered through the Cancer Data Access System (CDAS) maintained by Information Management System (IMS), contracted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as keepers and statistical analyzers of the NLST trial data. The summary includes:
- Introduction
- Recruitment and Enrollment
- Screening for Lung Cancer
- Diagnostic Evaluation of Lung Cancer
- Lung Cancer Data
- Non-lung Cancer Data
- Participant Withdrawal
- Mortality
- Results
- Images
- Biospecimens
https://biometry.nci.nih.gov/cdas/nlst/learn/trial_sum
NLST Design & Process, Protocol Documents, and Results
- Overview, study design, recruitment methods, endpoint verification process (determining cause of death), quality control (LSS and ACRIN).
- LSS Manual of Operations (MOOP) and ACRIN Protocol.
- DSMB announcement of results (10/28/2010).
https://biometry.nci.nih.gov/cdas/nlst/learn/main_findings
NLST Publications and Projects
- Primary Results, Study Design, Feasibility Study for the NLST, Psychosocial and Behavioral Issues, Technical Publications.
http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/noteworthy-trials/nlst/publications-from-nlst
- Browse Publications, browse projects, search.
https://biometry.nci.nih.gov/cdas/nlst/pubs_projects
NLST Data Collected
- Questionnaires, screening, diagnostic procedures, cancer diagnosis, treatment, progression, mortality, contamination.
https://biometry.nci.nih.gov/cdas/nlst/learn/data_collected
NLST Image-related Queries and Image Download Metrics
Accessing NLST Trial Data and Images
Data and images are owned by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and subject to IRBs at NCI and at the institutions through which participants were recruited. NLST summary, design, protocols, and results are well-described and publicly available; see:
https://biometry.nci.nih.gov/cdas/studies/nlst
ANYONE can access the data and images (with an approved CDAS request); see:
https://biometry.nci.nih.gov/cdas/studies/nlst
> Non-image Data
Investigators with approved access to NLST data may acquire copies of data in two different ways:
- Directly from IMS
Investigators with an approved request may download comprehensive NLST datasets directly from the CDAS website. Datasets are provided in SAS format in one compressed file (.zip); other formats are available upon request. - Indirectly, through the Query Tool (QT): NLST Database Query Tool
Investigators launch the web-based QT, make menu-driven queries against the QT database (a significant subset of all trial data), and save query results to an Excel spreadsheet. The chief advantage to the QT is the ability to rapidly adjust queries and build a final spreadsheet for analysis. In addition, the QT offers the ability to download associated CT image
> Images
CT images: All CT images are available to investigators with approved access to NLST data and images. The chest X-rays are not available. Subsets of the CT images may be obtained in two ways:
- Request from IMS. Petition IMS for images associated with an NCI-approved project. IMS notifies The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) management with a list of images to provide. TCIA pulls the images to an external hard drive (provided by the investigator) and ships the images to the investigator.
- Request with Query Tool. The investigator uses the Query Tool to define cohorts of subjects using non-image trial data, then directly downloads the associated CT images directly to their computer using the TCIA Download Manager tool.
For general details about the CT images, see NLST Images -- General Details
Pathology images: A small number (~1,250) of lung-biopsy pathology images are viewable using caMicroscope which is launched by the Query Tool.
Contact Information
For anything regarding the NLST protocols, data, findings, projects, and publications:
https://biometry.nci.nih.gov/cdas/contact/nlst
For anything regarding the Query Tool or the CT images or pathology images:
Please contact The Cancer Imaging Archive Support group at help@cancerimagingarchive.net or call +1.314.747-4254