A friend's father had something abnormal show up on a chest X-ray. His doc was very concerned. They ended up doing surgery (he had a huge scar that wrapped around his torso from front to back, and pain from it the rest of his life). They found only scar tissue (apparently from when he had the flu or pneumonia)... :-(

CDC.gov:

Risks of Screening

Lung cancer screening has at least three risks —

* A lung cancer screening test can suggest that a person has lung cancer when no cancer is present. This is called a false-positive result. False-positive results can lead to follow-up tests and surgeries that are not needed and may have more risks.

* A lung cancer screening test can find cases of cancer that may never have caused a problem for the patient. This is called overdiagnosis. Overdiagnosis can lead to treatment that is not needed.

* Radiation from repeated LDCT tests can cause cancer in otherwise healthy people.

That is why lung cancer screening is recommended only for adults who are at high risk for developing the disease because of their smoking history and age, and who do not have a health problem that substantially limits their life expectancy or their ability or willingness to have lung surgery, if needed.

If you are thinking about getting screened, talk to your doctor. If lung cancer screening is right for you, your doctor can refer you to a high-quality screening facility.

The best way to reduce your risk of lung cancer is to not smoke and to avoid secondhand smoke. Lung cancer screening is not a substitute for quitting smoking.

To be clear, that's about screening with "low-dose CT scans", not just a chest X-ray.

A few years ago there were studies saying that many lung cancers were seemingly caused by radon in homes (collecting in basements). I haven't heard much about that in a while - I haven't looked to see if the CDC has other screening recommendations if that is a factor.

FWIW.

Cheers,
Scott.