Ramos Raquel, Moura Conceição Souto, Costa Mariana, Lamas Nuno Jorge, Correia Renato, Garcez Diogo, Pereira José Miguel, Sousa Carlos, Vale Nuno
PerMed Research Group, Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Rua Doutor Plácido da Costa, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal.
CINTESIS@RISE, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal.
J Pers Med. 2024 Apr 24;14(5):446. doi: 10.3390/jpm14050446.
Lung cancer has the highest incidence and cancer-related mortality worldwide. In Portugal, it ranks as the fourth most common cancer, with nearly 6000 new cases being diagnosed every year. Lung cancer is the main cause of cancer-related death among males and the third cause of cancer-related death in females. Despite the globally accepted guidelines and recommendations for what would be the ideal path for a lung cancer patient, several challenges occur in real clinical management across the world. The recommendations emphasize the importance of adequate screening of high-risk individuals, a precise tumour biopsy, and an accurate final diagnosis to confirm the neoplastic nature of the nodule. A detailed histological classification of the lung tumour type and a comprehensive molecular characterization are of utmost importance for the selection of an efficacious and patient-directed therapeutic approach. However, in the context of the Portuguese clinical organization and the national healthcare system, there are still several gaps in the ideal pathway for a lung cancer patient, involving aspects ranging from the absence of a national lung cancer screening programme through difficulties in histological diagnosis and molecular characterization to challenges in therapeutic approaches. In this manuscript, we address the most relevant weaknesses, presenting several proposals for potential solutions to improve the management of lung cancer patients, helping to decisively improve their overall survival and quality of life.
肺癌在全球范围内具有最高的发病率和癌症相关死亡率。在葡萄牙，它是第四大常见癌症，每年有近6000例新病例被诊断出来。肺癌是男性癌症相关死亡的主要原因，也是女性癌症相关死亡的第三大原因。尽管全球已接受了关于肺癌患者理想治疗路径的指南和建议，但在全球实际临床管理中仍存在一些挑战。这些建议强调了对高危个体进行充分筛查、精确的肿瘤活检以及准确的最终诊断以确认结节的肿瘤性质的重要性。对肺肿瘤类型进行详细的组织学分类和全面的分子特征分析对于选择有效且针对患者的治疗方法至关重要。然而，在葡萄牙的临床机构和国家医疗体系背景下，肺癌患者的理想治疗路径仍存在一些差距，涉及从缺乏全国性肺癌筛查计划到组织学诊断和分子特征分析困难，再到治疗方法方面的挑战等多个方面。在本手稿中，我们阐述了最相关的不足之处，提出了一些潜在解决方案的建议，以改善肺癌患者的管理，有助于决定性地提高他们的总体生存率和生活质量。
