Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death

Fight lung cancer together: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Europe

04/11/2013

The diagnosis of lung cancer in Europe is still mostly deadly. Experts now want to be part of a „Central European Initiative Against Lung Cancer "to fight bronchial carcinoma together, with a view to prevention as well as therapeutic measures.

Lung cancer is one of the „most complicated cancers“
According to a recent in the „European Journal of Cancer "study found that 353,000 people in Europe succumbed to lung cancer in 410,000 new cases last year, and these figures prove that lung cancer is still fatal in most cases. „Lung cancer is one of the most complicated cancers, "explains Robert Pirker, a lung cancer specialist at the Division of Oncology at MedUni Vienna and the AKH in Vienna, to the news agency „APA“. „We need to bring the issue of lung cancer from prevention to the most advanced therapies on the agenda.“

One of the main risk factors for lung cancer is smoking. Eighty-five percent of illnesses are said to be related to nicotine consumption. „80 percent of smokers have smoked regularly at the age of 18 years. So how do we approach the 14-year-olds, "asks Pirker. As part of the launch symposium for a „Central European Initiative against Lung Cancer ", which will take place tomorrow in Vienna with around 100 experts, this and other questions on the subject of lung cancer will be discussed.

According to a US study, in smokers who smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, the rate of malignancy of lung cancer could be reduced by 20 percent after 30 years of regular CT scans. However, such a measure currently appears to be too costly and difficult. „The diagnosis should increasingly be made with molecular biological studies, because it can also be derived from an increasingly precise drug therapy. And, of course, all new therapies should be available throughout Europe, including in the CEE countries, "says Pirker.

Different chances of recovery in EU countries
According to recent calculations by scientists from the University of Milan (Italy) and the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), the chances of curing cancer in the EU countries are sometimes very different. According to this, men in the UK have the best chance of recovery in 2013. So the result in the comparison of the six most populous EU states. Britain is about ten percent below the EU average, said Prof. la Vecchia and colleagues in the journal „Annals of Oncology“. By contrast, Poland had the highest death rates among men and women, according to the calculation. This equates to 25 percent for men and 13 percent for women above the EU average. (Sb)

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