The Formosa Cancer Foundation yesterday urged the government to bolster its promotion of low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) for the early detection of lung cancer, as well as provide more treatment options.
Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s cancer registry annual report showed that in 2022, 17,982 people were diagnosed with lung cancer, while 10,053 people died of the disease, both the highest numbers among all cancers.
At a news conference held jointly with the foundation at the Legislative Yuan, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said the Health Promotion Administration in 2022 launched a government-funded LDCT program for high-risk individuals, which has helped detect lung cancer in the early stages in more than 1,000 people.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
“Ministry of Health and Welfare data showed that 158,937 people received government-funded LDCT as of Dec. 31 last year, with 1,957 of them diagnosed with lung cancer, including 83 percent at early stages — stage 0 and stage 1,” he said.
LDCT is an effective tool for detecting early-stage lung cancer and reducing mortality, and with the support of the ministry and the foundation, the program expanded its eligible age range for high-risk individuals from Jan. 1, he said.
However, more than half of the confirmed cases were still diagnosed at late stages, he added.
Lin said the government should promote early-stage detection while also improving late-stage treatment.
The Executive Yuan should establish a cross-ministerial cancer prevention committee and set lung cancer as a priority to improve the lung cancer survival rates, he added.
National Cheng Kung University Hospital superintendent Shen Yen-sheng (沈延盛), who is also a member of the Presidential Office’s Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee, said the government should adopt a dual-track system.
While the Health Promotion Administration promotes LDCT and expands its coverage, it must also encourage those who tested positive for lung cancer to pursue follow-up examinations and proper treatment, he said.
At the same time, the National Health Insurance Administration should provide more treatment options for late-stage patients, he said.
Cancer screening is the first step to cancer prevention, but as some high-risk individuals might live in rural areas or are passive about getting tested, the government should try to increase screening accessibility and encourage them to get tested, he said.
Formosa Cancer Foundation chief executive officer Chang Wen-cheng (張文震) said that the government-funded LDCT program is available to two high-risk groups — heavy smokers and people of certain age group with a family history of lung cancer — but heavy smokers are less willing to get tested.
The two groups of eligible recipients do not cover all high-risk individuals, so many people are still diagnosed at late stages of lung cancer, he said.
Moreover, the eligibility for receiving National Health Insurance-covered immunotherapy is also stricter than some countries, he said, adding that the foundation hopes the government can ease restriction to allow people with late-stage lung cancer access to more effective treatment, he added.
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