Adapted from BMJ 16 November 2024
The NHS Targeted Lung Cancer Programme, which has been running in England since 2019, has led to earlier diagnosis of lung cancer in 5037 people.
This programme uses mobile scanning trucks to visit areas of with high rates of lung cancer. Current and ex-smokers are encouraged to attend. In depth tests are done.
This has led to lung cancer being detected in 76% of people at stages 1 and 11, when the cancer is potentially curable by surgery and chemotherapy.
My comment: A colleague of my husband’s from Holland, was a very heavy smoker in his young day, and was so worried about it that he managed to persuade his GP to give him an annual Chest X Ray. He was diagnosed with cancer, and had surgery to remove one lung. He got back to work, and all seemed fine, but he then developed cancer in the remaining lung. He had vigorous chemotherapy but eventually succumbed. I do thing that this prolonged his life. He never made it to retirement age.
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