The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessement (HTA) programme is funding a pilot study to investigate whether a lung cancer screening programme could be effectively implemented at hospitals and cancer centres across the UK.
The pilot UK Lung Screening (UKLS) trial will be conducted by researchers at the University of Liverpool, in partnership with Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital; Papworth Hospital, Cambridge; and the Royal Brompton Hospital, London. Researchers will assess if the expertise and technology at cancer centres could efficiently support a large-scale screening programme. The team, part of the Liverpool Lung Project, funded by the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, has already completed a study to identify the risk factors of developing lung cancer, which includes history of respiratory disease and smoking. Members of the public who are invited to take part in the pilot trial will receive a CT-Scan and will be monitored for early signs of lung cancer. This group will be compared to those who have not received specialist scans. Funding for the pilot study follows positive results from a feasibility study funded by the NIHR HTA programme and the results of a similar project in the US, which found that death from the disease could be reduced through a screening programme that detected the condition in its early stages.
