[Prevention: a real possibility to repress lung cancer]

In the lack of effective treatment, the role of prevention has increased in the repressing of lung cancer. Smoking being a pathogenetic factor in the development of lung cancer is an accepted fact. Because of this, primer prevention means first of all the reduction of smoking both with the help of preventing smoking and cessation. A bigger - historical - debate has developed around secunder prevention: the effective screening of lung cancer. Although it was observed that staging rate and resecability had been more advantageous in the screened group, the screening of lung cancer was declared ineffective, because mortality did not improve. The change of approach can be felt from the middle of the 90's. Nowadays the creation of a multimodal lung cancer preventional strategy is in the center of researches. The screening of risk groups can mean the solution with the aid of biomarkers, chest X-ray and spiral CT. In Hungary, with the infrastructure of existing lung-screening network the up-to-date screening of risk groups seems to have reality in the near future.