Lung cancer screening also detects other diseases such as COPD, fibrosis and heart disease.

Lung cancer screening also detects other diseases such as COPD, fibrosis and heart disease.

impressions lungs’ cancer in smokers and former smokers which have been carried out since January last year in 38 hospitals in Spain have proven effective not only in detecting this disease, but also other diseases associated with smoking, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary fibrosis or coronary heart disease.

According to Juan Carlos Trujillo, clinical director of the thoracic surgery service at the Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital (Barcelona), low-beam computed tomography, with which these examinations are carried out, also serves to diagnose coronary heart disease. In recent months, Sant Pau has already referred four times to cardiology patients with coronary artery calcifications, which can become a serious problem. prelude to myocardial infarction.

Trujillo is the coordinator of Project Cassandra, a pilot lung cancer screening program that aims to be part of the NHS portfolio in five years. What is being done now has the support of various scientific societies and hospitals throughout Spain, but not financed by the Ministry of Health or ministries various autonomies. On June 4, the promoters of this project, including Trujillo, will explain at the Congress of Deputies what this program consists of. Some studies show that these tests reduce overall mortality from lung cancer to 24%.

As this surgeon explains, the European Commission’s recommendations are that countries include three new studies: stomach, lungs and prostate. “Spain cannot go against what Europe demands and health authorities must step forward to stop the deadliest cancer,” says this doctor. “Every 20 minutes in Spain, a person dies from lung cancer. And we have weapons to prevent this,” he adds.

Project Cassandra, expected to launch in June 2023, finally began a few months later in January of this year. The Ramon y Cajal hospital in Madrid was the first to admit the patient. From January to now in total 150 patients throughout Spain. “It’s going a little slower than we would like because we don’t have financial support and because each hospital has its own CT reading program,” Trujillo explains.

Main risk factor

He tobacco is the main risk factor lung cancer. That’s why these tests involve low-level CT scans on people aged 50 to 75 who still smoke or have quit smoking in the last 15 years at most. Doctors like Trujillo emphasize the need for early detection of lung cancer, since today “less than 25 to 30% of the cases we see are at an early stage.”

However, there are medical societies that oppose them: epidemiologists, for example, believe that these efforts should focus on smoking cessation programs instead of checking smokers. The cost of tests such as CT scans is another reason cited by opponents of their introduction.

Trujillo clarifies that Project Cassandra, in addition to conducting TAC, includes smoking cessation programs. “Every smoking patient who agrees to be tested must participate in a smoking cessation program. We’re going to see how many people quit smoking in the context of screening. Large scale project like Cassandra does not give immediate results“We will see the results of this analysis in five years,” he says.

According to Trujillo, more and more Spanish hospitals are joining the project: Gregorio Marañon from Madrid and Virgen de la Arrixaca from Murcia recently did this. In addition, he also assures that there are more and more interested autonomies: Galicia, Euskadi and Andalusia have already expressed support for their inclusion in the health system.