The NELSON Lung Cancer Screening Trial: Final screening round and follow-up

The NELSON trial, is a Dutch-Belgian lung cancer screening trial, to establish whether low-dose CT-scan screening in high-risk subjects for developing lung cancer would lead to a reduction of ≥25% in lung cancer morality. In this thesis the fourth (and final) screening round with a screening interval of 2.5-year was evaluated (Chapter 2 and 3). Furthermore, interim results are presented of this trial regarding to stage shift and shift in treatment (Chapter 4). In the 5th chapter, the generalisability of the NELSON trial was evualated by comparing the baseline characteristics and mortality profile of the NELSON control group participants and eligible non-responders. Finally, the cause of death of the NELSON participant with lung cancer was verified by an expert committee and compared with the official cause of death (Chapter 6).