Latvian doctors are preparing documents to launch a pilot lung cancer screening project starting in 2027. Medical professionals acknowledge that currently, most cases of the disease are detected too late, when survival chances drastically decrease.
Pulmonologists and thoracic surgeons from the Stradins Clinical University Hospital and the Riga East Clinical University Hospital are working on creating a lung cancer screening system in Latvia.
It is planned that the pilot project could start as early as 2027. For this, medical professionals are currently preparing the necessary documents for the Ministry of Health.
Against the backdrop of other European Union countries, Latvia is noticeably lagging in this area. In many EU states, similar programs are already operational, and in Germany, screening was officially introduced this year.
According to pulmonologist Gusts Ancans, about a thousand new cases of lung cancer are detected annually in Latvia. Approximately 600–700 patients are diagnosed with the disease at the third or fourth stage.
The statistics remain extremely grim: if lung cancer is detected at the last stage, about 85% of patients die within a year.
Importantly, lung cancer is considered one of the most dangerous types of oncology because, at early stages, the disease almost does not cause noticeable symptoms.
As Dr. Ancans explains, while the tumor is small, a person may only feel weakness, a periodic cough, or mild fatigue, not attributing much significance to it. As a result, patients often seek medical help too late.
Even an X-ray does not always allow for the timely detection of a tumor, and by the time a CT scan is performed, the disease often has already progressed to a severe stage. Therefore, doctors consider regular screening to be a key tool for early detection of the disease.
In most countries, examinations are conducted once a year for people in high-risk groups. The main risk factor remains smoking. According to Latvian doctors, about 85% of lung cancer patients in the country are smokers.
Latvian specialists have estimated that potentially around 50,000 residents may need preventive examinations.
In fact, this is an attempt to change the very approach to diagnosis — to detect cancer before serious symptoms appear, when the tumor can still be surgically removed and significantly increase the patient's chances of survival.
Against the backdrop of high mortality from lung cancer, the issue of launching screening in Latvia is increasingly being referred to as one of the most urgent tasks of the healthcare system.
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