Lung cancer screening in the UK should be introduced calls leading expert

Prof John Field of Liverpool University, a leading cancer expert, has stated that planning should start now for nationwide screening of older smokers by the end of 2016. Delays to a lung cancer screening programme in the UK could cost thousands of lives, he has warned.

The evidence that has arisen from studies from US data suggests screening can detect lung cancer early, leading to 20% fewer deaths, he told Nature journal.

Currently, 75% of lung cancer patients are diagnosed too late to save them. About 70% of patients will survive their disease for a year or more if it is diagnosed at its earliest stage.

Prof Field, who is leading the UK Lung Cancer Screening trial (UKLS), said that in 2012 someone died of lung cancer in the European Union every two minutes.

This news is on top of reports that Scientists have found droplets in the mouth which reveal genetic changes that show whether a patient has lung cancer.

Researchers at University of Liverpool and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology said the next stage will be to develop a handheld testing device for use by the NHS.

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