Achieving earlier diagnosis of lung cancer

New recommendations to help support the earlier detection of symptomatic lung cancer have been published in the British Journal of General Practice.

Dr Nick Woznitza, a Reader in the School of Allied and Public Health Professions and Consultant Radiographer at University College London Hospital, was part of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation working group on symptomatic diagnosis.

The group, made-up of health and academic experts, recommends enhancing campaigns and messaging to not only help increase awareness of symptoms, but to also motivate and support the public to act should symptoms arise.

They also suggest that healthcare needs to be able to provide better access to services with timely use of x-rays and imaging, along with a safety net so that patients who initially receive normal results can receive further assessment should symptoms persist or worsen.

Dr Woznitza said: “It was a privilege to be invited to contribute to this important work on improving lung cancer outcomes. Lung cancer has such a broad range of symptoms, and while screening undoubtedly plays a key role, improving access to all diagnostics is required. This includes increasing the number of chest X-rays and ensuring patients have timely results.”

Although substantial progress has been made in lung cancer care and treatment, it is still the largest cause of cancer death, with 1.8 million deaths worldwide per year and outcomes remain poor compared to other cancers.

Early detection of cancer is crucial for improving survival. For lung cancer, identifying it early in people who already have symptoms is even more important as there is a marked improvement in outcomes and treatments are more effective in fitter or healthier patients.

The group also recommends clearer messaging about symptoms and encouraging people to seek treatment. They suggest that patients who meet the symptom criteria set by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence should be able to self-refer for chest x-rays, with the results sent to their GP. This is especially important as many people in the UK avoid seeking help due to concerns about wasting doctors’ time.

Data should be collected on the number of chest X-rays requested by general practices to identify services where patients could benefit from more proactive screenings.

There should also be guidance and support for GPs on when to use direct access to CT scans, and advice on how to encourage patients to re-present if symptoms persist.

Read the full report here.

 

Notes to editors

• Achieving earlier diagnosis of symptomatic lung cancer was written by the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation working group on symptomatic diagnosis, led by Stephen H Bradley, GP and Clinical Research Fellow, Academic Unit of Primary Medical Care, University of Sheffield.