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The leading cause of cancer death in men, lung cancer does not yet benefit from organized screening on a national scale, as for breast cancer for example. The Foch hospital has decided to launch its own screening, which will begin on June 15. Explanations from Dr. François Mellot, Head of the Imaging Department at Hôpital Foch.
The figures concerning smoking in France are significant: on average, one in four French people smokes daily and tobacco is responsible for 75,000 avoidable deaths each year, or 13% of total mortality. In 2021, the High Authority for Health declared itself “in favor of the commitment of a pilot program” on the screening of lung cancer.
Foch Hospital launches lung cancer screening on June 15
To fight against lung cancer but also against the pathologies associated with it, the Foch hospital sets up lung cancer screening. “It is a question of having a low-dose chest scanner passed to patients sent by their general practitioner, there will be no possibility of coming without being referred by a doctor“explains first of all Dr François Mellot, head of the Imaging department at the Foch hospital.
Four tobacco-related pathologies screened
By passing this examination, patients will actually be screened for four tobacco-related pathologies. “By passing this low-dose scanner, the patient will be able to benefit from four examinations in one. The scanner allows the detection of pulmonary nodules, the measurement of cardiovascular risks by a calcium score, the detection of emphysema and that of osteoporosis“adds the specialist.
“Depending on their results, the patient may be sent to a specific care pathway, which coordinates a whole series of examinations and treatment adapted to each of the pathologies.
Women most affected by lung cancer
This announcement of screening at the Foch hospital comes at the same time as the mid-term results of the Cascade study, launched a year ago by a French team, coordinated by the AP-HP.
The first data show that men and women are not equal when it comes to smoking. With equal consumption, women have a cancer rate two to three times higher. An argument that still pushes in favor of screening, especially for women who smoke, generally underrepresented in gender studies. “These first results, even if it is necessary to wait for the end of the study to pronounce formally, show that women are more exposed to a risk of lung cancer, without anyone really knowing why. In any case, they confirm the results of the Nelson study, carried out in 2018, which already showed this trend. adds Dr. Mellot.
Screening, an effective weapon against mortality
“By setting up this screening, we are adding the missing box to the very formalized care pathway, which we have implemented for several years and which we continue to improve” judge the specialist. In this way, he hopes to continue the reduction in mortality linked to lung cancer, “for which screening is effective, several studies have shown“. The establishment plans to welcome at least 500 patients for a lung screening scan by next year.
Such screening is already in place in several countries around the world, such as the United States or Canada, for example. In France, the reluctance vis-à-vis the false positives and the “overdiagnosis” that the examination would generate in particular, as we already mentioned in our article “Lung cancer screening: for or against?”, have long slowed down the development of such a program.