Lung cancer the battle is being tested

Unusual fatigue that is more stubborn than usual. Lawrence Take the exams. As a result, he suffers from advanced stage bronchial cancer. Advertising is experienced“earthquake”. Then months of long treatment begin for him.”violent and unbearable. Laurent, 65, of an optimistic nature, radiates a powerful, lifelong rage. Today in lost time, that’miraculously “As he calls himself, he regrets it

“I smoked for over thirty years. I was stupid not to listen to prevention messages.” Elias Bouabdellah, head of the thoracic surgery department at Saint Joseph Hospital in Marseille, is not surprised.“People I work with have the same story almost all the time. Tests for suspected other diseases or even for two years, Covid. In his office, he looked for the last time at the 3D images of the lungs of a patient about to have surgery.

“We discovered a suspicious spot on it by chance. In this disease, the prognosis is related to the stage of diagnosis. If the cancer is only in the lung, there is a 90% survival rate at 5 years. On the other hand, if it has already metastasized, the survival is disastrous. Less than 10%.However, it is very rare for lung cancer to be detected at an early stage because there are no symptoms. With 33,000 deaths (1.5 million worldwide) and 46,000 new cases annually in France, lung cancer is one of the most common and deadly diseases. “It’s almost the equivalent of the covid virus every year,The specialist regrets. The tragedies that could have been avoided because in 80% of cases tobacco is responsible for the disease

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1000 smokers were tested

The discovery of lung cancer became apparent to the surgeon. Also, last February, the Supreme Health Authority gave the green light to implement realistic experiments to detect this cancer in smokers, Dr. Bouabdallah, accompanied by Arnaud Boyer, a respiratory pathologist, quickly set himself to launch. program at Saint Joseph’s Hospital. It should start next fall.

“The challenge with this screening is to increase the number of treatable patients by 15 to 60%. We believe in it because other countries such as the United States, China or England are already practicing it with promising results.” The study was funded by €200,000 by the Association for the Control of Cancer and the Saint Joseph Hospital Foundation, and the study targets smokers between 50 and 80 years old.

“Those who have smoked more than 15 packs/year. They will be able to benefit from a scanner with a low dose, that is, with very little radiation.” In this system, all persons (hospital patients, caregivers, staff and external visitors) will be able to apply. To see if they qualify, stations will be installed within Saint-Joseph Hospital. 1,000 patients will then be selected to participate in this individual lung cancer screening, for six years, with a prescription for a CT scan. “When entering the program, one year later and then every two years. The same way mammograms are done to screen for breast cancer. The main goal is to target the right population for screening and repeat.” This follow-up will be linked to the smoking cessation program that will be offered to patients by tobacco specialists in the health facility, but it is not mandatory.

“By quitting before age 50, the risk is divided by 50%. After age 60, the risk of declaring this disease is reduced by 15%.”

World No Tobacco Day has been held worldwide on May 31 every year since 1987. It focuses on the health risks of tobacco and the tobacco control actions led by the World Health Organization.