Efforts to expand early diagnosis and screening programs for lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, are in full swing.

Every year, February 4 marks World Cancer Day, an initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to raise global cancer awareness. Among various types of cancer, lung cancer remains the number one cause of cancer deaths in many countries, including Korea. According to the 2023 National Cancer Registration Statistics, lung cancer accounted for 21.9% of all cancer-related deaths in the country, ranking it as the leading cause of cancer mortality.

One significant reason for the high mortality rate of lung cancer is the difficulty of early detection. Many cases are diagnosed at advanced stages, making early detection crucial. Consequently, governments and the medical community have continuously worked towards early detection of lung cancer, leading to the launch of the world’s first national lung cancer screening program in 2019. This program has increased the sensitivity of lung cancer screenings to over 80%, and a noteworthy improvement in survival rates has been observed among screened individuals compared to those who were not.

The screening solution used in Korea's national lung cancer screenings is 'AVIEW LCS' by Coreline Soft, a medical AI company. This solution provides comprehensive screening for the three primary diseases associated with smoking—lung cancer, emphysema, and coronary artery calcification—through a single CT scan. Globally, only Coreline Soft and Germany's Siemens offer solutions capable of simultaneous screening for these three chest diseases. Notably, a study published in 'Scientific Reports', a journal under 'Nature', highlighted that AVIEW LCS demonstrated 25% higher accuracy compared to ChestCTExplore in aligning with final reading results.

As more countries implement national lung cancer screening programs, the encouragement of AI solution usage is also growing. Germany has introduced a new regulation effective July 1, 2024, officially recommending mandatory use of AI technology in medical image reading as part of its national lung cancer screening program, marking a groundbreaking shift in cancer screening. This significant policy aims to enhance the efficiency of early lung cancer diagnosis, with the HANSE project having already validated the reliability and stability of AI interpretation technology. Germany's policy underscores the essential role AI-assisted cancer screening now plays within the global healthcare system.

Professor Won-Ki Jung of Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital stated, "Lung cancer screening is transitioning from quantitative expansion to qualitative enhancement. With the expansion of high-risk groups to include family history and environmental factors, AI is emerging as a vital tool. AI efficiently performs complex chest CT analyses, detecting conditions like emphysema and interstitial lung abnormalities quickly and accurately while also enhancing efficiency and accuracy through centralized management of screening data via digital transformation. Despite limited medical resources, AI will make an innovative contribution to early lung cancer detection and management."

Amid the expansion of lung cancer screening projects in various countries, Coreline Soft is successfully participating in initiatives like Germany's HANSE project, the 4ITLR lung cancer screening project involving five European countries, and Italy's RISP project. Furthermore, they plan to participate in the Australian Lung Cancer Conference (ALCC 2025) on February 19.
 

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