The 27 asked the European Commission this Friday to update the table of criteria for cancer screening throughout the European Union. The Minister of Health says that the current recommendation is “20 years old” and needs to be updated.
“In the case of breast cancer, encompassing women under and over the age of [o estabelecido] in the current screening programme”, said Manuel Pizarro, adding that “from now on this program will also be extended to lung cancer, prostate cancer and stomach cancer, in certain cases”.
The measure may still take time to apply at the European level, but the Minister of Health says that, at the national level, it will advance without delay. “In the specific case of Portugal, we are going to start working immediately and I think that for any of these cases there will already be, in 2023, pilot programs,” she said.
“Lung cancer screening is aimed at heavy smokers, who are at risk. Stomach cancer screening is aimed at people who are also at higher risk, and we know in which communities in Portugal this risk is highest. And the detection of prostate cancer will be aimed at all men over the age of 55 to 60, depending on the case,” he explained, admitting that despite being a positive measure, it will put more pressure on the services.
Lung cancer screening is “aimed at heavy smokers with computed tomography, therefore, low-dose computed tomography, and it will detect many lesions that, since they are not cancerous, will require medical investigation,” he exemplified, although he admitted that this ” It means that we have to have teams ready to then respond to whatever appears in the projections.”
Source: TSF
