Abstract Rationale The Czech national population pilot programme for lung cancer early detection was initiated in January 2022. Target population comprises men and women aged 55–74 years with smoking history (at least 20 pack-years), former or current smokers. An estimated 250,000 to 500,000 individuals meet these criteria. Methods GPs offer the programme and refer participants to a pneumologist, individuals can also contact their pneumologist directly. Pneumologists perform comprehensive pulmonary examinations including functional investigation, refer patients for low-dose CT (LDCT) and navigate them in the healthcare system. LDCT is provided at 34 radiological departments certified by the Ministry of Health. The LDCT is repeated after one year, then every two years. The Czech lung cancer screening programme is linked to a smoking cessation programme. The pilot programme was evaluated after 3 years of its duration. Results As of December 2024, 33,154 people underwent an initial risk assessment, with 16,787 referred to pneumologist. Pneumologists performed 20,349 examinations including lung functions measurement, of which 10,451 in those referred by GPs and 9,898 primarily enrolled by pneumologists. Radiologists already performed 21,932 LDCTs (in 14,989 individuals). In the first round of the screening 2.5% of LDCTs showed positive findings (i.e., revealed suspect nodules), 19.8% were indeterminate, of which 6.9% were subsequently classified as positive. In total, 3.7% of findings were positive in the first round of screening. Nearly half of the newly diagnosed tumors were of stage I and majority of them were adenocarcinomas. Within 10,679 patient records completed by pneumologist before LDCT examination, 15.9% were newly diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Additionally, 3.1% of screened individuals had interstitial lung abnormalities (ILAs), 27.1% had lung emphysema, 8.7% had bronchiectasis, and 54.3% had coronary calcifications detected on LDCT. Conclusions After 36 months, the Czech lung cancer screening programme identified suspicious lung nodules in nearly 4% of patients, who were then referred to the pneumooncosurgical centers. Furthermore, other significant chronic pulmonary and also extrapulmonary conditions, such as interstitial lung diseases and abnormalities, COPD, bronchiectasis and coronary calcifications were detected. In the programme’s initial phase, approximately 11.0% of the eligible population has been reached. The guidelines on nodules and also incidental findings management are currently under development with cooperation with relevant specialists. This abstract is funded by: None
Vasakova et al. (Fri,) studied this question.