Oncologists recommend annual lung screening for ages 50-80 with 20 pack-year history

The Turkish Medical Oncology Association held a press conference yesterday, as November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month in Türkiye and around the world. The association announced that approximately 38,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year in Türkiye, that about 2.6 million people are diagnosed worldwide every year, and that 1.9 million of them lose their lives.

Association President Prof. Dr. Bülent Karabulut said tobacco use is the most important risk factor in the development of the disease. Stating that lung cancer is not only the disease of smokers, Karabulut said that "screenings performed with low-dose computed tomography" reduce the risk of death by enabling the disease to be detected at an earlier stage, especially in individuals with a long smoking history. Karabulut stated that annual screening is recommended for risk groups aged between 50 and 80 with a history of at least 20 pack-years.

Board member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tülay Eren said, "The first condition for being able to give the right drug to the right patient is to correctly determine the molecular characteristics of the tumor," adding that in advanced-stage patients carrying certain genetic changes, the disease can be kept under control for many years with targeted therapies. Noting that immunotherapy enables the immune system to recognize cancer cells and fight them more effectively, Eren reminded that there is not yet an mRNA cancer vaccine whose efficacy has been established.

Board member İsmail Ertürk emphasized that patients should consult medical oncologists without turning to alternative treatment and that the roadmap for the disease must be determined together with oncologists.