Overview
- Enrollment is open across Canada for a validation trial seeking up to 10,000 participants to test their homes for radon and mail in toenail clippings.
- The study aims to generate evidence that could support expanding lung cancer screening eligibility beyond tobacco-based criteria to include radon exposure.
- A proof-of-concept pilot published in Environment International found that measuring 210Pb in toenails is a promising indicator of an individual's long-term radon exposure.
- The research team used personalized radiation dose epidemiology with isotope-dilution mass spectrometry to make ultrasensitive measurements of radon decay products in nail tissue.
- The project is funded by the Canadian Cancer Society, and it addresses a gap highlighted by pilot data showing two in five Canadians with lung cancer do not meet current screening criteria.