Community-based mobile CT improves access to lung cancer screening in Cheshire and Merseyside

Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is collaborating with the Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance to improve patient access to lung cancer screening with plans to offer 1,800 lung health checks and 780 CT scans weekly. It is part of the Targeted Lung Health Check programme promoting early diagnosis and improved outcomes.

Medical charity Cobalt Health provides ultra low dose CT through mobile units, installed with the Somatom go.All and Somatom go.Top systems from Siemens Healthineers. The mobile CT units are conveniently located in the community for patients who may not be willing or able to access care in a hospital.

The trust has played an essential role in delivering lung health checks and scans to detect lung cancer at stage I or II when treatment is more effective. The mobile CT units were put into operation in the Merseyside and Cheshire communities in late 2022 with both solutions ready to deliver screening through 2023 onward. To improve access, the mobiles will change locations every one or two months.

Patients are invited for a virtual lung health check and, if deemed high risk, are invited for a CT scan. The mobile in Merseyside is currently offering approximately 600 lung health checks and 360 CT scans weekly. It has identified more than 110 lung cancer patients with over 75 per cent identified as stage I or II and 85 per cent of these going on for treatment. With the additional mobile system in Cheshire, the team envisions offering a total of 1,800 lung health checks and 780 CT scans weekly across both units.

The Somatom go.All and Somatom go.Top CT systems are both equipped with Tin Filter technology, which allows for ultra low dose imaging of the lungs. AI-powered scan automation and features such as myExam Companion provide a personalised procedure for patients and guide the operator through examinations.

“Several patients have said we have saved their lives through early diagnosis with this programme. We are doing exactly what the programme intended; identifying cancer at an early stage and treating it,” said programme manager for medicine Darren McGuinness. “The Somatom go.All and Somatom go.Top allow us to offer low dose, high quality scans at a local level and we can already see the benefits to the population as we help improve early diagnosis.”

Picture: Siemens Healthineers regional sales manager Gillian Wardropova, programme manager for medicine Darren McGuinness, Siemens regional sales director Darren Buckley and Cobalt Health CT radiographer Harry Jeffries.

Published on page 16 of the July 2023 issue of RAD Magazine.