Emmanuel Macron wants to study the development of an early detection of lung cancer, a disease that causes the death of 33,000 French people each year.
Screening early would allow small tumors to be detected before they spread into the organ, explains Jean-Baptiste Méric, of the National Cancer Institute.
Emmanuel Macron this week unveiled the national plan to fight cancer for the next 10 years.
Because a tumor spotted early heals better, the plan plans to organize a million additional screenings by 2025, in particular to better prevent severe forms of colon cancer.
Along the same lines, new tests should be developed to identify lung cancer earlier.
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Spot tumors earlier and increase the cure rate
Nearly 33,000 French people die of this cancer each year.
When the symptoms are already there, a lung tumor is inoperable in two thirds of cases because it is too large.
But studies have shown that offering regular low-dose lung scans to heavy smokers or former heavy smokers could reduce mortality by 20 to 25%.
Tumors would be detected much earlier, and therefore treated faster.
"We will be able to detect small tumors in the lung", underlines on Europe 1 doctor Jean-Baptiste Méric, director of the Public Health and Care division of the National Cancer Institute.
"As is often the case when you smoke light cigarettes, these tumors grow right in the middle of the lung. They don't cause bleeding, coughing, and pain until they have subsided. extended to other parts of the organ ", continues the doctor.
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France being well equipped with scanners, there is no technical barrier for the deployment of this examination.
If it is put in place in the coming years, this screening could concern up to two million French people, especially those who have more than 25 years of smoking behind them.