Charities call for more lung cancer scanners

Leading lung cancer experts, charities and patients have today called on the government to provide more scanners for lung cancer patients in England and Wales.

Macmillan Cancer Relief, The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, British Lung Foundation, CancerBACUP and Marie Curie Cancer Care have joined forces for this November’s Lung Cancer Awareness Campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of PET scanners in making treatment decisions and relieving stress during the cancer patient’s final months.

The charities, in support of the recommendations of the joint Royal Colleges, have called for the overnment to make a commitment to establish state-of-the-art dedicated Positron Emission Tomography (PET) camera facilities initially in at least 15 sites within the UK in the next 3-5 years.

The groups are also lobbying Parliament to set up a national strategy and costed timetable for the development of PET facilities as soon as possible.

Speaking at today’s conference, former surgeon Jules Dussek said: “I have been PET scanning every lung cancer patient coming to surgery for 10 years, the longest experience of anyone in the UK and almost anywhere. I would be very unhappy if I would be forced to operate on someone with lung cancer without a PET scan, I would feel naked and defenceless.”

Dennis Stowell, a pensioner from Taunton, recently travelled to London for a PET scan.

He said: “PET scanners are a good thing. We really need to spread them all over the country. I had to wait around eight weeks for my PET scan and a three-hour journey each way to check whether my lung cancer operation was successful. However it was worth it – I felt reassured by my scan and when the results came two days later I got the all clear.”

Peter Cardy, Chief Executive, Macmillan Cancer Relief, said that the UK was lagging behind the rest of Europe and the US in the provision of PET.

"There are currently around half a dozen PET scanners in the UK, mainly in London, but we need more - at least 15 within the next five years to deal with the 38,000 lung cancer patients diagnosed each year. Lung cancer patients deserve to get equal access to the best treatment and care to improve their quality of life wherever they live,” he said.

(gmcg)