About LHC | Partners | FAQs

The Lung Health Check pilot study is by invitation only.

Participants of selected Centric Health practices will receive a letter. This letter have more information about the study, and will give a time for a individual telephone appointment.

At this time, it is not possible to volunteer to be part of this study.

How

How

How does it work?

The Lung Health Check has three main steps.  

1. A telephone appointment:

This will be a chat with one of our team members who will ask you some questions and decide if a Lung Health Check is right for you.

2. What happens at the mobile unit?

The mobile units are staffed by administrative, nursing and radiographer staff employed by Alliance Medical Diagnostic Imaging, working on behalf of the Beaumont RCSI study team.

The mobile unit will move between the 4 sites on a pre-defined schedule. You will be notified of your mobile unit time and date. Below are the details of what will happen at the mobile unit.

    • You will be greeted and booked in by a member of our admin staff
    • You will then meet a nurse who will ask you some questions about your breathing and medical history.
    • You will have height, weight and blood oxygen levels measured.
    • You will have a breathing test to see how your lungs are working. This is a simple test where you blow into a hand held machine called spirometer. The machine measures how much air you breathe in and out.
    • If you currently smoke and want help to quit, you will be offered some advice and follow up to help you with this.
    • Some people will be asked if they want to give blood, breath and sputum samples. This is entirely optional.
    • You will then have a low dose CT scan of your chest. Low dose means that the amount of radiation used is very low, less than a standard hospital CT scan.
    • The whole appointment will last 30-45 minutes. The CT scan itself takes less than 1 minute. You should wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes and remove any metal objects, such as jewellery or belt buckles.

You will have plenty time to chat to the nurse and ask any questions.

You can bring a friend, family member or partner with you on the day if you need to.

What

What happens

3. What happens during the CT Scan?

During the scan, you will lie flat on your back, on a bed, that moves slowly into the CT scanner. The scanner is shaped like a ring and it moves around a small section of your body as you pass through it.

When a scan is taken you will need to lie still and follow simple breathing instructions for 10 seconds. This makes sure the pictures are not blurred

The scan is painless and you will be able to eat, drink or drive as normal after your scan.

What happens after my Lung Health Check?

For the majority of people, there will be no findings of the Lung Health Check. Regardless of your results, the Lung Check Team will contact you after your mobile unit visit to let you know your results.

    • The results of your Lung Heath Check will be sent to you and your GP within 4 weeks
    • If anything abnormal or “out of the ordinary” is found on the scan, you will be sent a letter detailing the next steps of your management.
    • If an appointment in the lung or other hospital clinic is needed, this will be arranged for you in either Beaumont Hospital or Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, depending on the location of your GP practice (Include Key to local hospital and directions here).
    • Sometimes the scan will show a small spot or nodule that is not of any immediate concern but should be monitored.  A repeat CT scan after 3 months will check if there has been any changes. We will arrange this scan for you in the mobile unit.
    • If your scan is normal we will invite you back for another CT scan in the mobile unit 1 year later.

Lung Health Check CT Scan results

The results of your Lung Health Check, including your CT scan results, will be sent to you within 4 weeks. Your GP will also get a copy of your results for their files. There are four possible results:

  1. No evidence of any significant issues
    Your scan and tests may show that your lungs have no evidence of any significant issues and you need no further investigations. However, we want to test everyone twice, one year apart. This means we will give everyone taking part in the trial an appointment for a second CT scan about 12 months after the first scan. We will send you a letter with the time and date of your 12-month scan closer to the time.
  2. Small lung nodule
    About 1 in 10 participants will have a small lung nodule on their CT scan. A lung nodule is formed by small pieces of tissue in the lungs that are visible on the CT scan. Most of these nodules are not cancerous (benign) and generally don’t cause any symptoms.Lung nodules are common, happening in more than a quarter of older individuals who smoke (or have smoked in the past). People who have never smoked may also have lung nodules. In rare cases, a nodule could represent the start of an early-stage lung cancer. Typically, non-cancerous nodules do not grow over time, but cancerous ones will eventually grow.

    Some nodules will require a follow up in 3 months to look for changes. The study team will arrange this and will send you a letter with the time and date of your 3-month scan. Other, smaller nodules can be looked at again when you have the one year follow up CT scan at the mobile unit. We will send you a letter with the date and time for these appointments.

  3. Your 3-month follow up CT may show:
  • No change
  • The nodule has disappeared
  • The nodule has grown.

Depending on the results, you may need:

  1. A further follow up scan in the mobile unit
  2. To be referred to the rapid access lung clinic for more tests and possibly a biopsy (taking a tiny sample of the lung tissue that is sent to the lab for further testing).

We will send you and your GP a letter explaining your results and what happens next.

  • Potential lung cancer

On the initial or follow-up low-dose CT scan we will see a small number of people (between one and three out of a hundred [1.5-3%] with a potential lung cancer. If you are one of these people, we will refer you to your nearest rapid-access lung clinic. These clinics are in Beaumont Hospital and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. We will also phone you and your GP and write to you both to let you know.

When you attend your local rapid access lung clinic,  you will have more tests including:

  1. Additional scans
  2. Camera tests (bronchoscopy)

Not everyone with lung abnormalities on the CT scan will have lung cancer, but it is important that we do more tests to find out if cancer is present.  Usually cancer is easier to treat, the earlier it is spotted.

  • Other non-cancer related conditions
    It is possible that we may find other, non-lung cancer related, conditions when carrying out the Lung Health Check. These conditions may be unexpected and may be picked up on the scan. These conditions are called “incidental findings”.Many incidental findings are very minor conditions that do not require any specific treatment, and need no further tests. Some incidental findings may require further tests, for this, we may refer you to your GP or a hospital specialist if needed.

    If you have a significant incidental finding on your CT scan that needs further testing, we will let you and your GP know by letter or phone.

    For some incidental finding that may need treatment or referral to a specialist, we will phone you and contact your GP.

What happens at the end of the study?

Each participant will be invited for a follow-up scan in the mobile unit 1 year after their first scan, unless we find a significant problem (such as lung cancer) that requires management in hospital.

After the one-year scan, the study will end. Some participants will have nodules or findings that will require further surveillance scans. If, at that point you require further scans or appointments to follow up on findings, we will arrange this for you in your local hospital (Beaumont Hospital or Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda)