Latest news with #NationalLungCancerScreeningProgram
Courier-Mail
01-07-2025
- Health
- Courier-Mail
Some Aussies will now be eligible for free lung cancer screenings
1/5 From this week, some Aussies with a history of smoking can access free, lifesaving CT scans to detect lung cancer before symptoms appear. Here's what you need to know to see if you're eligible. Australia's first new national cancer screening program in almost two decades kicks off this week. From July 1, Australians with a high risk of developing lung cancer can be screened for the disease free of charge. Lung cancer is the fifth most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in Australia. The National Lung Cancer Screening Program (NLCSP) will offer low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans to people aged 50-70 years who smoke or have a history of smoking and who don't have the symptoms or signs of lung cancer.
ABC News
01-07-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Lung cancer screening gets underway
Isabella Higgins: Australia's new lung cancer screening program gets underway this month. Under the scheme, those with a strong history of smoking aged between 50 and 70 may be eligible for bulk build scans. Now a large trial is underway to see if more people would benefit from screening, including non-smokers. Emma Pollard has this report. Emma Pollard: Artist and teacher Nicole Ives was about to leave hospital after having appendicitis when medics made a chance discovery. Nicole Ives : They found a lump in my lung and there was a high probability that it was lung cancer. Emma Pollard: It was a shock. The 57-year-old had no symptoms and had never smoked. Nicole Ives : Because they did such a great job educating us about lung cancer and smoking, you know for someone like me who never smoked, you know I probably really wouldn't have thought myself vulnerable in any way. Emma Pollard: While smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, other contributors include air pollution, occupational hazards and genetics. Brisbane-based thoracic physician and researcher Dr Kwun Fong says lung cancer is Australia's worst cancer killer. Dr Kwun Fong : The reason why it's got such a poor outcome is because when we detect it usually it's at a very late stage where cure is no longer possible. Emma Pollard: After years of planning, the National Lung Cancer Screening Program kicks off this month. It aims to save around 12,000 lives in its first decade by picking up lung cancers early using bulk-build low-dose CT scans. It's a targeted screening program open to people with a significant history of smoking, aged between 50 and 70 who have no symptoms of lung cancer. Dr Kwun Fong : We're very fortunate in one of the few countries where this national program will be rolled out. Emma Pollard: But like Nicole Ives, a significant number of those with the disease have never smoked. The figure is one in three for women and one in ten for men. So Dr Fong is leading a large national trial of 3,000 participants to see if other groups should also be eligible for screening, including non-smokers. Dr Kwun Fong : We're trying to advance the knowledge by finding out who else will benefit. Emma Pollard: It's hoped 1,000 Indigenous Australians will take part as they're twice as likely to develop lung cancer and die from the disease. Firefighters are another vulnerable group because of their exposure to toxins. General Manager of the Rural Fire Brigades Association Queensland, Justin Choveaux, would like to see them screened. Justin Choveaux : My hope would be that all firefighters, whether you be full-time, part-time or volunteer, would be able to access free screening. Emma Pollard: A spokesperson for the Federal Department of Health says the National Lung Cancer Screening Program is underpinned by strong clinical evidence. It'll undergo a comprehensive evaluation after two years, which could include changes to the eligibility criteria. Nicole Ives had surgery last year. She's now cancer-free and thankful her tumour was found early. I'd absolutely save my life. Isabella Higgins: Lung cancer survivor Nicole Ives ending that report by Emma Pollard.
Herald Sun
01-07-2025
- Health
- Herald Sun
Some Aussies will now be eligible for free lung cancer screenings
1/5 From this week, some Aussies with a history of smoking can access free, lifesaving CT scans to detect lung cancer before symptoms appear. Here's what you need to know to see if you're eligible. Australia's first new national cancer screening program in almost two decades kicks off this week. From July 1, Australians with a high risk of developing lung cancer can be screened for the disease free of charge. Lung cancer is the fifth most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in Australia. The National Lung Cancer Screening Program (NLCSP) will offer low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans to people aged 50-70 years who smoke or have a history of smoking and who don't have the symptoms or signs of lung cancer.
Mercury
30-06-2025
- Health
- Mercury
Free lung cancer checks to give Aussies a fighting chance
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cancer. Followed categories will be added to My News. Australia's first new national cancer screening program in almost two decades kicks off this week. From July 1, Australians with a high risk of developing lung cancer can be screened for the disease free of charge. Lung cancer is the fifth most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in Australia. The National Lung Cancer Screening Program (NLCSP) will offer low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans to people aged 50-70 years who smoke or have a history of smoking and who don't have the symptoms or signs of lung cancer. One of the major challenges with treating lung cancer is that by the time patients present with symptoms, the disease is often at an advanced stage. Early diagnosis means greater treatment options and a higher chance they will be effective. It is estimated there were more than 15,000 new cases and nearly 9,000 deaths from lung cancer in Australia in 2024. The $260 million screening program, which is expected to save hundreds of lives a year. Mark Brooke, CEO of the Lung Foundation of Australia said the NLCSP was a transformative leap forward in ending the stigma and inequality that existed for lung cancer in Australia. 'It gives us hope that lung cancer can be diagnosed earlier offering patients more choice in treatment options and the chance to live well for longer,' he said. 'Lung Foundation Australia will continue to focus on supporting people at risk of lung cancer particularly those facing stigma and in priority populations, to ensure the gold standard of care is available to all Australians.' People wanting to access the screening will need to meet the following eligibility criteria: •Aged between 50 and 70 years. •Show no signs or symptoms suggesting you may have lung cancer. •Currently smoke or have quit smoking in the past 10 years. •Have a history of tobacco cigarette smoking of at least 30 pack-years. The patient's healthcare provider assists patients in determining whether they meet these criteria and will also assess whether the patient is suitable for screening based on specific criteria, which may be temporary, for example, being able to lie down flat to complete a CT scan. The healthcare provider is most likely to be a general practitioner (GP) or a health worker at an Aboriginal Health Service. 'Pack-year' calculations are made by multiplying the number of cigarette packs smoked per day by the number of years the person has smoked. For example, one pack-year is equal to smoking 20 cigarettes (one pack) per day for one year, or 40 cigarettes per day for six months. Once the patient has agreed to participate in the lung screen, the healthcare provider will make a referral for a low-dose CT scan. The scan requires the patient to lay on a table with their arms above their head while the machine takes images of their chest. The procedure takes about 10 to 15 minutes and does not involve any needles. For rural and remote communities that don't have access to radiology clinics, from November mobile lung cancer screening trucks using world-first technology will take mobile CT services directly to eligible patients nationally. The healthcare provider will receive scan results, and the National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR) will send patients a text message, email or letter (depending on the patient's registered communication preference) about what to do next. Full details about the program and eligibility are available are available here. Originally published as Free lung cancer checks to give Aussies a fighting chance
West Australian
14-06-2025
- Health
- West Australian
First mobile CT scan coming to WA in bid to screen more regional and mining communities
A mobile CT scan could be the key to early detection of life-threatening diseases in regional patients, who currently have to wait weeks or travel to Perth for a screening. The CT scan — in-built into a trailer — will be the first-of-its-kind in WA in a bid to service mining towns and regional communities that don't have easy access to the screening tool, which provides highly detailed images of internal organs to help diagnose injuries and diseases. It is hoped the mobile scanner will be able to detect lung cancer, heart disease, and silicosis — a serious lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust — earlier. There are only 10 CT scanners in the public health system across regional WA — two each in the Pilbara, Goldfields, Kimberley, Wheatbelt, and Mid West. Tibi Healthcare founder Nell Gillett, who thought of the idea after seeing gaps in healthcare for mining communities, said it was a service that was 'so desperately needed'. 'Particularly when you're talking about lung cancer, the rates of disease and outcome measures are always worse for regional community members, typically because their disease is found late,' she said. 'They may have had a cough for a couple of weeks but there's no one in town to actually be able to deal with that so their outcome measures are absolutely worse.' Dr Gillett said the trailer would also visit mining communities to check workers for silicosis. Siemens Healineers manager Neil Foster, who was a part of engineering the CT scanner, said access to this screening could be life-changing for people. 'The communities access to health care is very limited by distance, by time, and by their personal circumstances to travel to places like Perth,' he said. 'A lot of the infrastructure in those towns doesn't have the capabilities that you have on this machine so to have an equivalent service, they might have to travel thousands of kilometres. 'Half of the world's population has limited access to care and so to actually find people in that situation in an affluent country like Australia, and Western Australia in particular, I think it's really quite a meaningful problem to be able to address.' The custom-built trailer, named Dr Bobby after Dr Gillett's late father, is also equipped with a consultation room and a room for telehealth appointments. This means regional patients could do their scan and get results from their specialist all in one visit rather than face a wait. The availability of this mobile service will be aligned with the upcoming National Lung Cancer Screening Program, which launches in July. The program will check for lung cancer in high-risk people aged between 50 to 70 who do not have symptoms and will prioritise mobile screening services in remote and regional Australia. The trailer's first stop will be the Pilbara region in July.
