EUROPE 1 ACCOMPANES YOU
It's a scary cancer, and rightly so. Every year in France, 50,000 people are affected by lung cancer, the most deadly among frequent cancers. Mostly men, since this affection is linked to tobacco and men still smoke more. But there is reason to hope, as explained by Professor Nicolas Girard, oncologist pulmonologist and head of department at the Institute of Thorax Curie-Montsouris in Paris, at the microphone of Europe 1. Indeed, two new methods developed over the last ten years show good results.
"We have doubled patient survival"
The first is targeted therapy. "We are looking for genetic mutations for all diagnosed patients," says the specialist. If genetic mutations that cause cancer are identified, then there is a "target" for therapy. "It works very well, in 95% of cases," says Professor Nicolas Girard. "It works like a switch."
The second treatment is immunotherapy, which has been developed for about five years and offers promising results. "Immunotherapy is not aimed at directly attacking the tumor, but stimulating the natural defenses against cancer cells," says the oncologist pneumologist. "It's a common mechanism, we all have cancer all the time, except that the body is able to defend itself until it's no longer possible." This treatment is "very well tolerated". "It works in 50% of cases" by extending the life of the patient.
Often, these two treatments, whose side effects are less than that of chemotherapy, are coupled with the latter or with radiotherapy. The numbers reflect the progress made by medicine. "Currently, we have doubled the survival of patients," says Nicolas Girard. "We have 30% of them who are alive five years after diagnosis."
Towards a prevention campaign?
But the specialist also wants to tackle this diagnosis, precisely. Because it is often very late, and for good reason. Lung cancer is usually invisible, with mild symptoms like sputum or a change in cough. When a patient feels pain, it is already too late: the metastases are there, and it is they that cause suffering.
This is why Nicolas Girard is campaigning to set up a screening campaign, as is currently done for breast cancer. "This consists of scans with low irradiance for those most at risk: people over 50 or 55 years old, who have been smoking for a long time.This is already done in the United States, every year, or in the United States. Netherlands, every two years. "
Mass screening of this type is difficult to consider in the short term because it poses questions of organization and reading of results, to avoid confusing any abnormality with cancer. "But studies show that it reduces the mortality rate of lung cancer," says the specialist.