Nova Scotia has launched its first lung cancer screening program to combat lung cancer, the most common disease in the country.
Health Minister Michelle Thompson said Friday that the provincial government is investing $3 million a year in the program, which includes clinical assessments and computed tomography (CT) scans.
Mr Thompson’s presentation at the offices of the charity LungNSPEI was enthusiastically received by Dr Daria Manos, the screening program’s medical director, who has been advocating for lung cancer screening for the past 12 years.
“We need this program,” Manos said. “Lung cancer kills more Nova Scotians than colon, prostate and breast cancer combined.”
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Nova Scotia, with approximately 1,000 people diagnosed with lung cancer and 700 deaths each year.
Nova Scotia has the highest age-standardized lung cancer incidence rate in the country, at 81.7 per 100,000 people for men and 75.4 per 100,000 for women, according to statistics released last year by the Canadian Cancer Statistics Advisory Committee. There is.
The new test will be offered to people aged 50 to 74 who have smoked daily for more than 20 years. Eligible individuals can have a nurse assess their lung cancer risk by calling toll-free 1-833-505-LUNG. You do not need a primary care physician to access the program.
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“We did not come up with this standard ourselves. It is based on several large research trials,” Manos said. “What we do know is the risk of lung cancer from smoking.”
The evaluation will determine whether screening with a chest CT scan would be beneficial and will also provide information about lung health and smoking cessation tools to those who call the hotline.
Manos said the program also includes support for underserved populations, including the state’s Black and Indigenous communities. It is currently being offered in the Halifax area and will be available in other parts of the province over the next two years.
Manos said similar programs are in place in limited areas in Ontario and Quebec but could expand, while British Columbia is implementing a province-wide lung testing program. .
Dr. Madeleine Prude, director of thoracic surgery at Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Center in Halifax, emphasized the importance of early detection of lung cancer.
Prude said that about 70% of the patients she and her colleagues care for are at an advanced stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis and are not offered an opportunity for curative treatment.
“The truth is, if you’re showing symptoms of lung cancer, it’s already too late,” she says. “Detecting lung cancer early allows us to provide treatments that aim to cure it.”
Prude added that the three-year survival rate for stage 1 lung cancer patients can exceed 80 percent. For stage 4 patients, the rate is about 8%.
“To make a difference, we need to increase awareness of screening programs and ensure they reach all Nova Scotians who are at risk,” Plourde said. “This means removing the systemic economic and geographic barriers that exist.”
Kendra Slaughter, who will become a patient and family advisor at the Nova Scotia Health Cancer Treatment Program, has lost four family members to lung cancer in the past 10 years, including her mother, two aunts and an uncle. said.
“It was hard to see them put up with what they did,” Slaughter said, adding that she is glad lung testing is finally being done in the state.
“As more research is done, we hope that research will expand in the future to investigate environmental and other risk factors that contribute to lung cancer,” she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2024.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
