Targeted Lung Health Check Screening: Does it make a difference?

<bold>Introduction:</bold> The Targeted Lung Health Checks (TLHC) Programme is an NHS England initiative to improve early diagnosis and survival of lung cancer patients. Suspicious lesions on non-contrast CT chest scans of high-risk ever smokers aged 55-75 years are referred to local pathways for further evaluation. We wanted to assess the diagnosis, treatment and outcomes of such patients referred via the TLHC programme to Barking, Havering and Redbridge Trust. <bold>Methods:</bold> We conducted a retrospective analysis of all patients with suspicious pulmonary lesions identified on CT chest scans between July 2022 to April 2023. <bold>Analysis:</bold> A total of 103 patients were referred, and ten patients were excluded as they were awaiting further investigations. Of the Ninety-three patients analysed, the median time from the TLHC scan to review by the local respiratory team was thirteen days. Seventeen (18.3%) patients had a diagnosis of primary lung cancer [see Fig 1]. Nine (9.7%) patients had stage one or two lung cancer; seven of these had surgical resection and will undergo radiological follow-up. Eight (8.6%) patients had a diagnosis of Stage 3 or Stage 4 lung cancer. <bold>Conclusion:</bold> The TLHC programme identified seventeen patients with lung cancer and nine (52.9%) of these were early Stage 1 and 2 lung cancers. This demonstrates the effectiveness of TLHC programme in identifying patients with early-stage lung cancer where earlier intervention improves survival outcomes. <fig><object-id>erj;64/suppl_68/PA3339/F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig>