The PULMONALE pilot project will be organized around three main areas: recruitment, screening and guidance to diagnosis. This approach will integrate knowledge gained through the NLST and NELSON studies, which have led to the implementation of more than 129 PC screening projects worldwide, including 49 in Europe.
In Portugal, lung cancer (LC) is the tumor that causes the most deaths, ranking third among the most common cancers, with 5,415 new cases diagnosed in 2020 and 4,797 deaths recorded in the same year. Every day, 15 Portuguese people are diagnosed with CP and 13 die from this disease. The five-year survival rate after diagnosis is only 15%, with 75% of cases being identified in advanced stages.
However, when diagnosed early, the five-year survival rate can range from 70% to 90%. International studies such as the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) and NELSON have shown that low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) can significantly increase early diagnosis and reduce deaths from PC by more than 20%.
Recognizing the urgent need to implement screening programs in Portugal, the Portuguese Association for the Fight against Lung Cancer, PULMONALE, assembled a committee of experts to develop a pilot project. This committee included pulmonologists, oncologists, radiologists, family doctors and policy makers. Consensus sessions were held to analyze the international situation and map out the pilot project, resulting in a plan agreed upon by all the experts involved. Details of the project were published in Acta Médica Portuguesa in the article “Lung cancer screening in Portugal: PULMONALE pilot project”.
According to the published information, the pilot project will be divided into three main areas: recruitment, screening and guidance to diagnosis. This approach will integrate knowledge gained through the NLST and NELSON studies, which have led to the implementation of more than 129 PC screening projects worldwide, including 49 in Europe.
In the UK, for example, the Targeted Lung Health Screening (TLHC) programme has screened over 120,000 participants and detected over 1,500 cases of COPD since 2019, leading to the recommendation for national screening. Other European countries, such as Poland, Croatia and the Czech Republic, have also launched national screening programmes.
In 2022, the European Commission updated its recommendations on population-based screening, encouraging countries to conduct feasibility studies and pilot projects for cerebral palsy screening, linked to smoking cessation programmes. In Portugal, the implementation of a pilot project is essential to adapt the screening plan to the national reality and gradually prepare the health system for implementation at national level.
PULMONALE proposes to carry out screening in accessible areas, accompanied by awareness campaigns, smoking cessation counselling and psychological support. The establishment of referral routes for suspected infections is also part of the plan, ensuring adequate monitoring by the National Health Service.
PC screening can be shown to increase survival by more than 20% and improve patients’ quality of life, in addition to being cost-effective. Given these benefits, the European Commission recommends pilot projects for PC screening.
N.R/PR/HN
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