Lung Cancer Early Detection in Five Seconds

While 22 EU member states have launched projects for lung cancer screening programs, Austria is a "blank spot" on the map, explained Judith Löffler-Ragg, Secretary General of the Austrian Society for Pneumology (ÖGP) at the Praevenire Health Talks in Alpbach, Tyrol.

"We have around 5,000 new cases of lung cancer per year. Lung carcinomas are the second most common cancer in women after breast cancer and the second most common cancer in men after prostate cancer. The five-year survival rate is only 20 percent. That is too little. In the early stage, treatment has curative aspects (makes the disease curable; note). But we only have 25 percent of patients (at the time of diagnosis; note) in the early stage," said the lung specialist, head of the Pneumology Clinic Hochzirl/Natters in Tyrol.

The statistics for Austria and worldwide are health-wise and economically catastrophic, especially for lung cancer diseases. The expert: "Lung cancer is the number 1 killer among cancers." People are actually afraid of the wrong thing. "As a woman, I might be afraid of dying from breast cancer, as a man from prostate cancer. But lung cancer claims more deaths than both combined."

Lung Cancer: Suffering and Socioeconomic Damage

In Austria, lung cancer is also the largest cost factor among lung diseases, with total costs (health and socioeconomic costs; note) of 4.1 billion euros per year. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease follows in second place with 3.2 billion euros annually. In Austria, 19.2 percent of cancer deaths are attributable to lung carcinoma alone.

Although medicine has made great progress in the treatment of lung cancer in recent years, this has changed little in the overall problem. "Individual patients benefit greatly from it, but far too few. An annual chest X-ray is useless (for early detection of lung cancer; note). Low-dose computed tomography without contrast medium, on the other hand, is suitable for screening. (...) It is not a question of (scientific; note) evidence that with an annual CT examination, lung cancer mortality can be reduced by at least 20 percent in risk persons, who are long-term smokers." This way, significantly more lung carcinomas are detected in the early stage, which can be cured by surgery with appropriate additional treatment.

Potentially Enormous Impact on Cancer Mortality

A large Dutch-Belgian study with low-dose computed tomography for long-term smokers (7,900 participants) showed a reduction in lung cancer mortality by 26 percent. The Vienna lung specialist Arschang Valipour explained: "By now, such programs have already reduced overall mortality (all causes; note) by 48 percent and lung cancer mortality by 45 percent among those affected." For Austria, with around 5,000 lung cancer diagnoses per year and approximately 4,000 deaths annually, an early detection program using low-dose computed tomography, for example, for long-term smokers aged between 50 and 74, would likely have a significant impact on cancer mortality overall.

Other countries are much further ahead in this area than Austria, according to the lung specialist: "22 out of 27 EU countries already have at least pilot projects. Comprehensive lung cancer screening programs already exist in Croatia, Poland, and England. Germany will roll out its nationwide project in 2026. Austria has no official pilot phase."

Sufficient CT Equipment Available

One should not believe that the computed tomography capacities in Austria would be overwhelmed. Judith Löffler-Ragg: "We have 26 computed tomographs per million inhabitants. That is more than in Poland or England." With the latest devices, the imaging examination itself now only takes five seconds.

In contrast to breast cancer screening, where all women in the relevant age group should ideally undergo a mammogram every two years, lung cancer early detection works exclusively through high-risk groups, namely long-term smokers. According to the expert, the target group in Austria would be around 600,000 people. "With an 'uptake' (participation; note) of 50 percent, that would be around 300,000 people." In England, CT examinations are conducted annually in the first two years, then every two years.

In the USA, currently less than ten percent of those eligible participate in the program, while in Estonia, for example, it is 80 percent. In England and Croatia, participation has so far been around 50 percent. "We can learn a lot from other countries," said the expert. What has hardly been discussed so far: A lung cancer screening via CT also includes screening for severe heart diseases, which further increases the potential benefit.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.