Lung cancer screening
The prevention of lung cancer through screening follows the established standards of prevention of other malignancies, such as breast cancer and colon cancer.
The logic of screening is based on early diagnosis, that is, the recognition of a malignancy at an early stage when the chances of a definitive cure are higher. Specifically, for lung cancer, the diagnosis of the disease in its early stages allows for surgical removal, which is the most effective treatment.
If we take into account that one in four deaths from malignancies is due to lung cancer, the importance of early diagnosis through screening becomes apparent.
In recent years, lung cancer screening with low-dose chest CT has been established in the United States and several countries of the European Union.
This examination is performed annually and is recommended from the age of 55 for people who either smoke or have stopped smoking less than 15 years ago and the cumulative amount of smoking must be at least 30 packs/years (i.e. one pack per day for 30 years, or two packs per day for 15 years and so on). In our country, we are in the process of establishing a corresponding program with insurance companies.
The concerns that exist regarding the repeated exposure to radiation from annual CT scans are unfounded. It is worth noting that 10-15% of smokers will develop lung cancer at some point in their lives, while the reported risk from annual low-dose CT scans is well below 1%.
The potential benefit of screening for the individual and for society as a whole is enormous.
Without screening, only one in five lung cancer patients is diagnosed at an early stage (stages I and II) and can undergo surgical treatment.
As six out of seven patients with lung cancer are smokers or former smokers, screening, if implemented according to the above criteria, has the potential to diagnose most lung cancers early in their development (i.e. significantly increasing the percentage of patients with early stage disease) and consequently leading to a reduction in deaths from this disease.
