Three consultants from Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust joined patients, other clinical leaders and politicians at 10 Downing Street recently (25 June) to celebrate 35 years of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.
Mr Aman Coonar, Dr David Gilligan and Professor Robert Rintoul - who all hold national roles in addition to working at Royal Papworth - collectively emphasised the significance of the NHS lung cancer screening programme, explaining it has identified 7,500 early lung cancers to date.
Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK and the most common cause of cancer death, killing about 35,000 people each year – or 95 per day. It accounts for 21% of all cancer deaths.
Reflecting on the event, Mr Coonar, Dr Gilligan and Professor Rintoul said:
"These cancers can be treated successfully, often with surgery compared with late-presenting lung cancer. Most of these surgical treatments will be performed using minimally invasive techniques, resulting in faster recovery times for patients.
"As the screening programme rolls out to cover all of England by 2030, many more lives will be saved.
"Our goal is to transform lung cancer from a challenging and difficult-to-treat disease with poor outcomes into an early-presenting condition that is more treatable with much higher chance of cure."
Royal Papworth Hospital was involved in some of the early research that demonstrated proof of concept for lung cancer screening and that lung cancer screening could be cost-effective.
The UKLS study was run in collaboration with Liverpool University and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, with 50% of the patients (2,000) recruited at Royal Papworth.
From left to right:
Mr Aman Coonar, Consultant Thoracic Surgeon at Royal Papworth Hospital; President of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in GB & Ireland; National Clinical Lead for Thoracic Surgery at NHS England
Dr David Gilligan, Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Royal Papworth Hospital; Chair of the UK Lung Cancer Coalition
Professor Robert Rintoul, Honorary Consultant Respiratory Physician at Royal Papworth Hospital; Clinical Lead for the UK Lung Cancer Coalition; Professor of Thoracic Oncology, University of Cambridge; Co-lead of the Thoracic Cancer Programme at Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre