2024-01-13 12:00:10
“We can’t move forward. We are even going backwards”, squeaks Professor Jesus Gonzalez, president of the SPLF, the French-speaking learned society of pulmonology. In 2022, the High Health Authority had recommended the implementation of experiments. At the end of 2023, the ministry requested new clinical research projects demonstrating the effectiveness of the device in France. Which can be long: “ We are waiting for political decisions to be made to speed things up. »
“Scientifically, the major benefit has been demonstrated, the doctor annoys. Two major studies, Dutch-Belgian and American (Nelson et NLST) show a reduction in mortality of 20%. » In France, the vast majority of lung cancers are discovered at a metastatic stage. Which greatly reduces the chance of recovery, and, doctors also argue, is very expensive. With relatively effective treatments but an exorbitant price.
The people targeted by organized screening would a priori have an age between 50 and 75 years, and would have smoked at least 20 packs per year. “It is better that they have stopped smoking. It is more difficult to interpret the scans of people who still smoke. » The screening would consist of a low-intensity scan, repeated every one or two years, which might be prescribed by the attending physician (as in an experiment carried out in the Somme between 2018 and 2020).
“We understand that the authorities do not want to repeat a failure like that of colon cancer screening”, but pulmonologists say they are convinced that this screening would generate better adherence. Especially since it would have other benefits, allowing the same examination to detect COPD (obstructive pulmonary disease) or coronary heart disease.
The question of organizing access to this screening is real. The SPLF notably offers to test trucks equipped with mobile scanners: “The military knows how to do it. So we know how to do it. »
Each year, 53,000 new cases of lung cancer are diagnosed in France and 33,000 people die from it.
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