Does early stages of lung cancer show up in a chest x-ray?

Many WebMD users asked why doctors don't use chest X-rays to diagnose lung cancer at an early stage, when it's more treatable; here are the answers. ... "If you start getting lots of screening chest X-rays, you end up performing other testing on many patients, which are often unnecessary. read more

A chest X-ray will only show up lung cancer when the cancerous tissue is dense enough to block X-rays. This may not be in the early stages - although of course it depends on what you mean by ‘early’. read more

April 8, 2005 -- When the news that Peter Jennings had lung cancer hit earlier this week, many WebMD users asked why doctors don't use chest X-rays to diagnose lung cancer at an early stage, when it's more treatable. WebMD turned to cancer expert Harold Burstein, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, for the answer. read more

A chest X-ray of someone with lung cancer may show a visible mass or nodule. This mass will look like a white spot on your lungs, while the lung itself will appear black. However, an X-ray may not be able to detect small or early-stage cancers. read more

April 8, 2005 -- When the news that Peter Jennings had lung cancer hit earlier this week, many WebMD users asked why doctors don't use chest X-rays to diagnose lung cancer at an early stage, when it's more treatable. read more