The Louis Pradel hospital in Bron. (@HCL)
In this lung cancer awareness month, the “Together we lungs” collective wants to raise public awareness about individual screening for the pathology.
With nearly 31,000 deaths in 2021, lung cancer is the deadliest malignant tumor in France. “Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in our country“, confirmed Professor Sébastien Couraud, head of the pulmonology department at Lyon Sud hospital in a press release. On the occasion of November Perle, lung cancer awareness month, the Lyon Civil Hospitals (HCL) and the collective “Ensemble Nous Poumons” wishes to accelerate lung cancer prevention, particularly by placing emphasis on individual screening.
Currently little implemented, it could be carried out in all people at risk of lung cancer. Or those aged 50 to 74, smoking 10 cigarettes per day for more than 30 years or more than 15 cigarettes per day for more than 25, and active or quit smoking for more than 10 years.
Read also: Breast cancer screening: “We are still far from the mark”
A scanner as screening
The reference examination for lung cancer screening is a low-dose, non-injected CT scan. It must be carried out one year apart for the first two examinations, then every two years after two negative examinations. “Like all the members of the Ensemble Nous Poumons collective, I remain mobilized on the issue of individual screening for lung cancer before organized screening is deployed in France, as is already the case in some of our European neighbors“, adds Professor Couraud.
While waiting for screening, experts also advise monitoring symptoms suggestive of the disease, in particular the appearance or increase of a chronic bronchitis cough, repeated lung infections, bloody sputum or even the appearance of shortness of breath. in the absence of proven heart problems.
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