Screening aid in early diagnosis of lung cancer
Written by:Lung cancer, which is associated with an overall survival at 5 years less than 20%, is the most lethal of all cancers. According to experts in Pneumology , the main problem of lung cancer has no symptoms until it is in an advanced stage, so that when the therapeutic possibilities are slim, the very poor prognosis and survival of very young patient is detected.
What is screening?
To improve the prognosis of lung cancer is important to diagnose at a very early stage, when the size is small (few centimeters). In this way, the tumor can be removed and the survival and significantly improve patient prognosis.
The way to make a diagnosis of lung cancer at an early stage is through its screening. This involves making the people most at risk of developing the disease (people between 40 and 70 years, smokers or former smokers a certain amount of cigarettes a day) a TAC of low radiation (equivalent to that of a mammogram) once a year. Studies show that patients who develop lung cancer during the annual follow-up, it detects when the TAC has few centimeters, so they can be removed.
This advance can be a radical change in the way of making a diagnosis of lung cancer, enabling a significant increase in survival of patients.
Screening for lung cancer, would within or outside the service portfolio?
For several months, the American health system, Medicare, and pays recommends screening for lung cancer in people between 55 and 77 years old who smoke or have smoked a large quantity of snuff throughout his life. In Spain, however, the NHS has not yet ruled on the inclusion of this program in its service portfolio. Doing so could undoubtedly improve the life expectancy of many people.
