ANOTHER CANADIAN TRIAL FOR YOU TO CONSIDER
A study being undertaken by University Health Network, Toronto, is currently recruiting volunteers. In layman's terms, Early Diagnosis of Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma in Prior Asbestos Workers is looking at serial use of low-dose computed tomography as a means of identifying mesothelioma before the symptoms develop. The method is to look at pleural plaques and document the volume of individual plaques as well as the overall volume, noting their growth rate over time. I imagine the study will result in the acquisition of valuable information regarding the type of plaques that are likely to become malignant and the rate of growth of these plaques.
The study is to be undertaken on a non-probability sample, which means that, in terms of the wider population, the results may be of limited value. Basically, non-probability sampling means that the volunteers included in the trial have been chosen without regard given to the likelihood of their representing the wider population.
Of course, in this study, the sample is limited to those who have previously worked with asbestos, which means that non-probability sampling is just fine.
I have tried to find more information from the UHN website but with little success. However, the results of my search make interesting reading, and you can them for yourself here
More complete details of the low-dose computed tomography trial can be found here