Possibilities of the Early Diagreosis of Lung Cancer

Overview

Importance of the lung cancer (LC) in our country and in the world as well as possibilities of its active screening are described. In US the lung carcinoma represents the most frequent lethal cancer both in males and females. In the Czech Republic (CR), mortality due to LC has the hrst place among men and the third place among women. Incidence of LC in males has not increased and for several years it has been reaching about 100 per 100 000. In women during the last 30 years mortality has increased three times reaching frequency 22 per 100 000. In the year 2000, 5709 persons died for the disease. In CR, about 6 to 7 % of patients can be expected to survive 5 years, in the western Europe it is about 8 %, in US 13 %. Results of the diagnostice and treatment of the lung cancer revealed question on the active screening. Among the methods available at present, the most promising for conditions in CR appears the use of the low-dose spiral CT scan in the risk population. The paper brings results of a study evaluating the possibilities of the recognition of asymptomatic stadia of LC and discusses ideas of a future international study assessing the effectiveness of LC screening using this method.

Key words:
lung cancer, epidemiology, screening, low-dose spiral CT.