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During the pandemic, we almost stopped diagnosing lung cancer, specialists are alarming. In their opinion, this is due to the fact that most of the pulmonary departments of hospitals have been converted into covid departments.
Lung cancer in Poland
Meanwhile, in lung cancer, early diagnosis determines the patient’s prognosis and life expectancy. Thanks to early detection and subsequent implementation of optimal diagnostics and therapy, the survival time of patients, until recently counted in months, may start to be counted in years, and lung cancer may become a chronic disease, experts quoted in a press release sent to PAP.
The Economist Report 2019 shows that Poland has one of the highest mortality rates from lung cancer. This cancer is responsible for almost a quarter of all cancer deaths in our country.
– We believe that the situation in lung cancer is alarming – every year this cancer is diagnosed in approximately 23 people. people and almost as many die of it. It is the most common cancer in Poland, both among men and women – recalled Elżbieta Kozik, president of the organization Polskie Amazonki Ruch Społeczny (PARS). PARS is a co-organizer of the campaign «Hamuj Raka! Give the Lungs a Chance ».
Kozik added that lung cancer is usually diagnosed at a late stage, which is associated with poor prognosis for patients. Only 13,6 percent. men and 18,5 percent. women with lung cancer are alive five years after diagnosis. In breast cancer, it is 77 percent. patients, and in melanoma, 65 percent. sick. “We want to achieve similar statistics in lung cancer,” she pointed out.
How to diagnose lung cancer in advance?
Significant improvement in early detection can be achieved by introducing lung cancer screening. The analyzes of observational studies conducted in Japan, the United States and Germany show that with the use of low-dose computed tomography (NDTK), approx. 85-93% of patients can be detected. stage I lung cancer. And now about 80 percent. is detected in stages III and IV, when surgery cannot be applied, and patients can only count on palliative treatment.
So far, no mass screening of lung cancer has been introduced in Poland, but formally, at the end of 2019, the National Program of Early Lung Cancer Detection Using Low-Dose Computed Tomography was launched.
According to prof. Tadeusz Orłowski, head of the Surgery Clinic at the Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases in Warsaw, this program currently operates in 6 macroregions: central (Łódzkie, Mazowieckie), south-eastern (Małopolskie, Świętokrzyskie, Podkarpackie), eastern (Lubelskie, Podlaskie), northern (Pomorskie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie), western (Lubuskie, Wielkopolskie, Zachodniopomorskie), and Śląskie (Śląskie, Opolskie, Dolnośląskie).
– Thanks to the use of low-dose computed tomography in screening tests, we are able to detect the disease at a stage that gives a chance for full recovery – commented Prof. Orłowski. He emphasized that, however, social education and mobilization of people from risk groups who meet the criteria for inclusion in the program are needed to apply for preventive examinations. They are mainly people who smoke a lot of cigarettes – now or in the past.
— Meanwhile, the pandemic brought new problems, and we almost stopped diagnosing lung cancer. We have an absolutely alarming situation. Most of the pulmonary departments of hospitals have been converted into covid departments. Therefore, we propose that in each voivodeship there should be one pulmonology and thoracic surgery center to which primary care physicians should refer patients – added Prof. Orłowski.
According to experts, the current epidemiological situation cannot stop specific actions and cause further delays in the diagnosis and treatment of patients.
As prof. Joanna Chorostowska-Wynimko, head of the Department of Genetics and Clinical Immunology of the Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases in Warsaw, the key to successful treatment of lung cancer is proper and fast diagnostics, as it opens the door to a personalized, optimal therapy for the patient.
– Each patient who enters the diagnostic path should have a full panel of pathomorphological and molecular tests performed simultaneously and in accordance with the standards of care. Diagnostics should be carried out comprehensively and in compliance with quality standards, regardless of the region of residence – said prof. Chorostowska-Wynimko.
In her opinion, fragmentary, step-by-step testing leads to “unjustified time delays, the loss of invaluable biopsy material, and is simply expensive”. – Long diagnostics is ineffective diagnostics. And lung cancer sufferers don’t have time. Without quick, comprehensive and complete diagnostics, we lose the chances of using innovative lung cancer therapies – said the specialist.
Treatment of lung cancer in Poland
The condition for improving the five-year survival in lung cancer is also the acceleration of access to innovative life-extending therapies. For example, for patients with inoperable locally advanced lung cancer, the use of concurrent radio-chemotherapy supplemented with a drug called durvalumab is a great opportunity. It was placed in the so-called the golden ten oncology drugs that should be on the reimbursement list – TOP 10 ONKO. The list was developed by a national consultant and provincial consultants in the field of clinical oncology, as well as experts in the field of pharmacoeconomics.
In addition to durvalumab, it also included two other drugs for lung cancer – pembrolizumabi osimertinib. They are all categorized as drugs with the greatest effect in prolonging the life of lung cancer patients.
– The effectiveness of lung cancer treatment in Poland can be increased. It is determined by diagnostics, access to modern therapies and efficient organization of the treatment process. It is necessary to invest in these areas in proportion to the morbidity and death rate – summed up prof. Maciej Krzakowski, national consultant in the field of clinical oncology, head of the Lung and Thoracic Cancer Clinic of the National Oncology Institute M. Skłodowskiej-Curie in Warsaw.
Author: Joanna Morga / PAP
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