Nova Scotia announces its first screening program for lung cancer

Nova Scotia has launched its first screening program for lung cancer as it battles the highest rates of the disease in the country.

The provincial government is investing $3 million a year for the program, which includes clinical assessments and computerized tomography (CT) scans, Health Minister Michelle Thompson said Friday.

Thompson’s announcement at the offices of the charity LungNSPEI was greeted with enthusiasm by Dr. Daria Manos, medical director for the screening program, who has advocated for lung cancer screening for the past 12 years.

“We need this program,” Manos said. “Lung cancer kills more Nova Scotians than colon, prostate and breast cancers combined.”

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Nova Scotia with about 1,000 people diagnosed and 700 deaths each year.

Statistics released last year by the Canadian Cancer Statistics Advisory Committee show that Nova Scotia has the highest age-standardized incidence rates of lung cancer in the country, at 81.7 cases involving men per 100,000 people, and 75.4 cases involving women per 100,000 people.

The new screening will be offered to people between 50 and 74 who have smoked daily for 20 years or more. Those in the target group can have their risk of lung cancer assessed by a nurse by calling a toll-free number: 1-833-505-LUNG. People do not need a family doctor to access the program.

“We did not come up with the criteria ourselves, this is based on several huge research trials,” said Manos. “What we know about is the risks of smoking for lung cancer.”

The assessment will determine if a person would benefit from screening with a chest CT scan, and those who call the hotline will also receive information about lung health and smoking cessation tools.

Manos said the program will include outreach to underserved segments of the population, including the province’s Black and Indigenous communities. It is now available in the Halifax area and will be offered in other areas across the province over the next two years.

Similar programs are operating in a limited number of areas in Ontario and Quebec, with the possibility of expansion, while British Columbia has a provincewide lung screening program, Manos said.

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Dr. Madelaine Plourde, division head of thoracic surgery at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, underscored the importance of early detection for lung cancer.

About 70 per cent of patients she and her colleagues care for have advanced stages of the disease at the time of their diagnosis and won’t be offered the chance of curative treatment, Plourde said.

“The truth is, if you are presenting with symptoms of lung cancer it’s already too late,” she said. “Early detection of lung cancer is how we can offer treatments that will have the goal for cure.”

Plourde added that the three-year survival rate for someone with Stage 1 lung cancer can be over 80 per cent. For a patient with Stage 4 it’s as low as eight per cent.

“For changes to take place we do need to increase awareness of the screening program and ensure that it reaches all Nova Scotians who are at risk,” Plourde said. “This means removal of systemic economic and geographic barriers that exist.”

Kendra Slawter, who is about to become an adviser to patients and their families with the Nova Scotia Health cancer care program, said she lost four family members to lung cancer over the last 10 years, including her mother, two aunts and an uncle.

“It was difficult to watch them endure what they did,” said Slawter, who added she’s pleased there will finally be lung screening in the province.

“As more research is done my hope is that they will expand down the road and look at the environmental factors and other risk factors that contribute to lung cancer,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2024.

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