With regard to World Lung Cancer Day on August 1, the Austrian Society for Pneumology (ÖGP) pointed out the importance of early detection for lung cancer therapy. In the course of this, a plan for the development of nationwide lung cancer screening is to be drafted, it said in a broadcast.
“It has long been our aim to design a screening with a lung health care and early detection program,” said Bernd Lamprecht, lung primary at the Kepler University Hospital in Linz and ÖGP Vice President. The crucial problem is that the disease is usually only recognized at a point in time when it is already at an advanced stage.
Cure possible in early stages
Only about 20 percent of lung cancers are discovered in the early stages. While the five-year survival rate can reach around 90 percent with early diagnosis and therapy, the prognosis with late detection falls far short of expectations and hopes, despite modern therapy options.
A growing body of data shows that lung cancer screening leads to a reduction in lung cancer mortality. “Studies have shown that regular low-dose computed tomography examinations can reduce lung cancer mortality in risk groups by up to 20 percent over a period of ten years,” said Bernd Lamprecht. In women, the benefit of such a check-up is even clearer with a reduction of 40 to 60 percent in mortality. “With CT screening, lung cancer is detected much more frequently in the early stages I and II; stages in which a cure is almost always possible.”
The Society for Pneumology will develop a “master plan” for the implementation of a preventive and early detection program. The data showed that these successes could only be achieved in combination with smoking cessation programs. “Comprehensive lung cancer screening must also include smoking cessation initiatives. Primary prevention, i.e. not smoking, remains important.”
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