The Lung Screening Program is available in Central and Eastern zones with work underway to have it provincewide by early 2026. Because it is only available in two health zones, we have limited current promotion to word-of-mouth awareness and referrals by primary care providers. Thank you for your efforts in promoting the value of lung screening and for referring your patients who are at high risk for the disease.
In recent months, we have had a few people referred who were symptomatic. The Lung Screening Program (and all cancer screening) is for individuals who are asymptomatic. Screening programs cannot determine if and what type of diagnostic testing may be necessary and cannot order investigations to assess signs and symptoms. Screening CTs are:
- not adequate as a test to investigate symptoms.
- not as detailed as diagnostic CT scans, particularly with respect to the mediastinum, and
- Not urgently booked or reported.
If your patient has symptoms suggestive of a possible lung cancer
Patients who are symptomatic require clinical assessment and a diagnostic workup. Please see Nova Scotia Health’s Initial Investigation of Lung Cancer Symptoms for next steps.
When submitting a requisition to Diagnostic Imaging, please remove the words lung screening from your diagnostic workup to avoid confusion.
If diagnostic investigations are negative
Your patient can be referred back to the Lung Screening Program if the diagnostic investigations are negative or if you confirm to us that diagnostic assessment is not appropriate. Please note that if a screening CT is performed in the future, it will be booked no earlier than one year after a diagnostic CT of the chest.
More information about Nova Scotia Health Cancer Diagnostic Pathways for can be found at https://library.nshealth.ca/Staff-Cancer-Care/Diagnostic-Pathways.
If you have additional questions about lung screening, please visit www.nshealth.ca/lungscreening or email lungscreening@nshealth.ca.
