Lung cancer is the #1 in cancer mortality, with 80%1 5-year-mortality. As the early stages of the disease are painless, the majority of diagnoses happen in late stages. Today, around 80% of the patients are diagnosed in stage 3/4, where only palliative treatment is possible.
Personalized screening of high risk groups with low-dose-CT is a way to significantly decrease lung cancer mortality. In current lung screening programs, around 80%2 of the patients are diagnosed in stage I or II, which allows treating them with curative intent.
There are, however, some concerns which hinder the implementation of screening programs: (1) Radiation Dose, (2) accuracy (false positives and negatives) and (3) costs and workload for medical personnel.
- 7th Edition Of The LuCE Report: Challenges In The Care Pathway And Preferences Of People With Lung Cancer In Europe
- In a report for 2020, the OECD estimated 320 000 newly diagnosed lung cancer cases in Europe (EU-27) per year. The same year, 257 000 deaths from lung cancer were recorded. (Hungary, Poland and Denmark are countries with the highest mortality rates.)
- It is estimated that one person died of lung cancer every 83 seconds in Europe. Read the publication “Lung cancer screening in Europe: where are we in 2021? “ here
- Lung cancer has the highest cancer mortality rate. Find some dedicated statistics on cancer (EU-27) here
- The relevance of lung cancer screening is also recognized by international organizations. The European Respiratory Society (ERS) published together with 55 organizations an open letter with political recommendations for action
- ERS also put together some of the key facts for lung cancer screening and the aspect of cost effectiveness
- More people die from lung cancer than from the cancers with the second and third highest mortality rates (colorectal and breast cancer) combined.
Our contribution
We as Siemens Healthineers actively address these three challenges and contribute to successfully implementing screening programs:
Radiation Dose
We provide ultra-low-dose CT technology that allows a screening examination much below the natural background radiation.
Accuracy
We provide AI tools that improve accuracy and at the same time reduce radiology workload (costs).
Costs and workload
We offer the ultra-low-dose technology even in the most cost-efficient CT scanners, making screening cost-effective, affordable and available to large patient populations, without compromising quality.