Mobile scanning unit trial has detected almost 40 asymptomatic lung cancers since launch

A first-of-its kind pilot clinical trial has detected almost 40 asymptomatic lung cancers since it was launched in March 2025.

The Lung Health Check trial worked with communities in north Dublin and the northeast through mobile scanning units based at GAA clubs and Croke Park.

It targeted current and former smokers aged 55-74 from selected Centric Health GP practices, who were invited to attend a free lung health check.

Six in 10 lung cancers are detected at a late stage, when they are harder to treat. However, the pilot detected almost 40 lung cancers, with 80 per cent being identified at stage one.

Many of these lung cancer patients have had life-saving curative treatment. One such patient was 73-year-old Con Shanahan, who had no symptoms but a previous history of smoking and pneumonia.

“The woman on the phone from Lung Health Check invited me to come to the mobile unit to get a scan, and I remember asking her, ‘Are you sure it’s necessary?’ She said it could be worth my while,” he said.

After his scan, Shanahan was referred to Beaumont Hospital for further tests. In December 2025 he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He underwent surgery on January 29th, 2026, to remove the top lobe of his right lung. A CT scan seven months later confirmed he was cancer free and required no further treatment.

“To my generation the words ‘lung cancer’ always meant death. The word ‘cured’ wasn’t in my vocabulary with lung cancer, but I’m living proof that it is possible to be cured of it, if it’s caught early,” Shanahan said.

Nikki Gallagher, chief executive of the Irish Cancer Society, which invested €5 million in the programme, called for the development of a free national lung screening programme for people at high risk.

[ More than €6.5m in treatment costs saved through 38 cancer trials accessed by 230 patientsOpens in new window ]

“It is so important we don’t lose the momentum of this successful Lung Health Check pilot,” she said.

“As well as ensuring higher survival rates and better outcomes for patients, it also saves the State in the long run to treat all cancers, but especially lung, at the earliest possible stage.”

Prof Daniel Ryan, respiratory consultant at the Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre and clinical lead of the Lung Health Check pilot, said the cancer detection rates and outcomes in the trial were “comparable with anywhere in the world in this screened population”.

“We are now halfway through our second round of screening, where participants return a year later for a repeat scan. The response has been really positive, with more than 98 per cent of participants attending,” he said.

Prof Jarushka Naidoo, lung cancer research lead of the Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre and principal investigator of the Lung Health Check pilot, said “now more than ever” Ireland needs to build on this by “bringing lung cancer screening to all those who may benefit ... through a national screening programme”.