The above information was given at the Workshop "Pneumonia cancer screening: International experience and orientation in Vietnam" organized by the National Cancer Institute (K Hospital) in collaboration with AstraZeneca Vietnam Co., Ltd. on April 11.
Prof. Dr. Le Van Quang - Director of K Hospital, Director of the National Cancer Institute - emphasized: Lung cancer is currently the second leading cause of cancer death in Vietnam, after liver cancer. If detected early, the chance of successful treatment will increase significantly.
Thanks to the remarkable advances in science and technology, today's cancer treatment methods have been personalized and deployed in a multi- modular direction, combining many measures to optimize effectiveness.
For lung cancer patients, if diagnosed early, the likelihood of successful treatment can increase significantly, contributing to reducing mortality and saving treatment costs - Professor Quang emphasized.
He also said: Each country has its own priority strategy in treating lung cancer - a disease with a high incidence rate and has recorded many remarkable advances in treatment. Building a screening program and an effective disease management system is an urgent task".
At K Hospital, it receives about 12,000 examinations related to lung cancer each year, treating about 3,200 patients. Most patients are diagnosed at the stage of no surgery, accounting for 75%, causing poor prognosis for survival. The disease is often diagnosed at a late stage when respiratory symptoms have appeared, tumors encroach on the chest, compression syndrome, metastasis of the brain, bones, kidneys, subcutaneous nodules, etc.
At the workshop, Professor Pan-Chyr Yang - National University of Taiwan (China) - introduced the TALENT model to help detect up to 90% of patients with stage 0-I lung cancer in the non-smoking group early, while contributing to promoting changes in national health policies.
He said that Asia is currently the region with the largest burden of lung cancer in the world, with a high mortality rate, especially among smokers. In Taiwan, the screening program using a low-dose CT scan every 2 years has proven effective in detecting diseases early.
Dr. Nguyen Trong Khoa - Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health) - affirmed: "Developing the national lung cancer screening program is a strategic step to reduce the burden of disease. The close coordination between medical facilities, professional synchronization, quality control and effective data exploitation is a key factor to improve the effectiveness of screening and early detection."
