The take-home message is to never start smoking, and if you do smoke, to quit.

The rate of early cancer detection was better than what we see in the general community. But it remains to be seen if that translates into a mortality benefit. It is too early to make any recommendations regarding chest X-rays as a lung cancer screening tool in the general population.

There were a lot of false positives on the initial x-rays. If you get a positive result from a chest x-ray, the message is, don't panic.

There is no accepted early screening technique for lung cancer. The PLCO trial will show if chest X-rays, by catching lung cancer when it is still operable, can reduce the death rate from lung cancer.