#EAPM: Big push for lung-cancer screening from Sofia

We are less than seven days away from a major lung-cancer screening conference (22-23 April), to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, during the country’s first-ever term at the helm of the rotating EU Presidency (which lasts until 30 June), writes European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM) Executive Director Denis Horgan.

Registration closes on 21 April.  To view  the programme, please click here and to register, click here. 

The conference will be run by national affiliate the Bulgarian Alliance for Precision and Personalised Medicine in association with the Brus

sels-based European Alliance of Personalised Medicine (EAPM).The event’s title is ‘Lung cancer and early diagnosis - The evidence exists for screening'.  To view the issues related to the EU Policy on Lung Cancer CT Screening, please click here.

The Bulgarian Alliance has taken a lead in putting access and earlier diagnosis as a top priority in its own region as well as in the Balkans. Sofia sees it as vital to focus on screening and prevention, especially in respect of such a killer disease.

Jasmina Koeva, of the Bulgarian Alliance (BAPPM), will lead the conference and said: “One of the aims is to put forward a recommendation to be adopted by the EU Council to facilitate the drawing-up of lung-cancer screening guidelines by an Expert Group.

“This will take into account the pros and cons of screening programmes in other disease areas, including breast, colorectal and cervical cancers.”

She added: “Europe is looking at risk prediction models to identify patients for screening, plus determination of how many annual screening rounds are required.

“There have been indications that, while we wait, there is a good case for immediate implementa-tion of carefully designed and well-targeted demonstration programmes.”

Lung-cancer screening was the top topic of last year’s EAPM Presidency conference, and this fol-low-up event will carry the baton further.

Figures show that lung cancer causes almost 1.4 million deaths each year worldwide, representing almost one-fifth of all cancer deaths.

Within the EU, meanwhile, lung cancer is also the biggest killer of all cancers, responsible for al-most 270,000 annual deaths (some 21%).

Horgan said this week: “It is at the very least surprising that the biggest cancer killer of all does not have a solid set of screening guidelines across Europe.

“We and our colleagues at BAPPM have consistently called for concrete actions at the EU level and member-state level, and we hope to really push the agenda during our time in Sofia.”

Given that health is in the main a member state competence, when it comes to governance it is clear that national structures need to be in place for screening. These would benefit from EU-wide guidelines, political commitment, and a structure that provides for evidence-based decision making (the latter in a fully transparent manner).

Organization-wise, says EAPM, member states and the EU should look to improve all aspects of lung-cancer screening going forward. Therefore, consistent monitoring of population-based programmes should lead to feedback and modification of methods where the latter is necessary.

New programmes again have to be based on gathered evidence of efficacy, cost effectiveness and risk. Over-treatment is also an issue that cannot be side-stepped. Any new screening initiative should also factor in education, testing and programme management, as well as other aspects such as quality-assurance measures.

Two vital bottom-lines are that access to such screening programmes should be equitable amongst the targeted population, and that benefit can be clearly shown to outweigh any harm.

Of course, while calling for EU-wide standards and guidelines, EAPM and BAPPM are aware that there is a huge variation in resources between wealthy and less-wealthy members of the EU. This discrepancy must be taken into account when formulating any consensus-based guidelines.

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