‘Increase funding for lung screening on at-risk subjects’
“There is a great lack of homogeneity in treatment between North and South: thoracic surgeries, for example, are more present in the centers of the North while they are scarcely present in the Center-South of Italy. There is therefore a need for greater organization of regional networks”. This was stated by Simona Loizzo, deputy of the League and group leader in the Social Affairs Commission, during the press conference to present the new Position Paper “Lung Cancer: the Main Way is Early Diagnosis”, created with the unconditional contribution of Johnson & Johnson MedTech, which was held this morning in Rome.
“In the South, the numbers of prevention are limited and this translates into lower diagnostic quality and entry into diagnostic-therapeutic pathways, therefore also into an inequity of care, which means lower survival in some regions of the country for some pathologies, including lung cancer”, adds Loizzo, for whom it is necessary to “Increase the fund of the National Health System dedicated to all screening and, in particular, promote the census of the population at risk for lung cancer, therefore smokers and genetically predisposed people. It is necessary to strengthen screening for lung cancer, the incidence of which has increased sharply. We believe that subjects at risk who also have a demonstrable genetic predisposition should be immediately included in screening with lung CT scans because prevention is fundamental for us”, underlines Loizzo. The goal is “obviously to identify a very small tumor and intervene immediately”, he adds. “There is a significant allocation for screening in the years 2022-2025 and we must draw from this fund to strengthen them all. But lung cancer screening today represents an absolute priority,” underlines Loizzo.
“Today, screening in Italy is supported only for 3 types of cancer – breast, cervical and colorectal – but there is also a need for lung cancer, given the 44 thousand cases that are recorded every year”, explains Loizzo. “We are fighting a great battle for screening. I remember that at the beginning of my parliamentary adventure we tried to increase the Fund in the first Budget Law. We do not want to interrupt this mission. The Fund must be implemented. For tumors that do not yet have reimbursement for screening, we must implement economic resources”, he reiterates.