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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
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RFI

France hopes to make screening for lung cancer routine by 2030

A radiologist conducts a scan on a smoker to check for signs of lung cancer at a hospital in Ajaccio, on the French island of Corsica, on 16 December 2021. © Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA / AFP

Screening for lung cancer could become as routine in France as checks for breast or colon cancer, according to Health Minister Stéphanie Rist, who says the country is preparing to roll out a pilot programme to screen thousands of at-risk individuals from next month.

"We want to see widespread lung cancer screening by 2030, and it will start in March with more than 20,000 people eligible for targeted screening," said Rist.

Speaking to Franceinfo for World Cancer Day on Wednesday, the health minister said the pilot would help identify the population most likely to benefit from pre-emptive checks, with a view to making them routine.

"We are really moving towards mass screening, as we do for breast cancer or colon cancer."

Lung cancer is the deadliest form of the disease in France, responsible for some 30,000 deaths a year. Most cases are caused by smoking.

With symptoms slow to appear, low survival rates are partly explained by the difficulty of catching lung cancer early. One analysis found that almost a fifth of patients died within three months of diagnosis.

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Potential to save thousands of lives

France's pilot screening programme, first announced last year, will target people aged 50 to 74 who either smoke or quit within the past 15 years.

A full-scale programme to screen high-risk individuals for lung cancer could prevent more than 10,000 lung cancer deaths in France over five years, according to modelling conducted to help design the project.

Between 2.4 and 4 million individuals may be eligible nationwide, depending on which criteria health authorities use.

Lung cancer screening has already been tested with a small number of people in some parts of France, including the Somme and Corsica. Several other European countries are also in the process of developing large-scale programmes, including Poland, Croatia, Italy and Romania.

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Doctors can use CT scans, chest X-rays or sputum samples to check for early signs of lung cancer. Trials in other countries indicate that annual CT scans are the most effective, with the potential to reduce the risk of dying by around 20 percent.

France currently screens for three types of cancer – breast, cervical and colorectal – with target age groups systematically invited for regular checks that are paid for by the national health service.

Rist said the Health Ministry was also preparing to roll out another pilot programme to better target people at high risk of developing breast cancer, the most prevalent form of the disease in women, with more than 60,000 cases diagnosed in France a year.

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