France's union of private radiologists (Fédération Nationale des Médecins Radiologues, FNMR) issued a statement on 13 November calling on the government to give more support to lung cancer screening during November, which is Lung Cancer Awareness Month.
With more than 46,000 cases each year, lung cancer is the fourth most common disease in France, causing an annual 33,000 deaths -- almost as many as from COVID-19, the union stated. Several studies have shown the benefits of screening, including the NELSON study, which revealed that low-dose CT performed on at-risk individuals allows early detection and a reduction in mortality of 25% in men and 40% in women.
In the last few years the FNMR, which has given its wholehearted support to breast cancer screening in France, has unsuccessfully asked for the implementation of regional studies in at-risk patients. It now urgently requests that the French authorities get behind the initiative. The first national lockdown revealed that cancer cases increased in both number and seriousness due to a lack of screening. Therefore, given this is the month of lung cancer awareness, the FNMR hopes for rapid lung cancer screening implementation.
