EU Lung Cancer Screening: How SOLACE Aims to Improve Early Detection

The Promise of SOLACE in European Lung Cancer Screening

SOLACE (Strengthening the Screening of Lung Cancer in Europe) is a three-year EU4Health-funded project, coordinated under the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), that has screened more than 30,000 people across 11 EU countries using low-dose CT scans to catch lung cancer earlier. Running from April 2023 to March 2026 and bringing together 37 partners from 15 countries, SOLACE is the largest coordinated push yet to move lung cancer screening from isolated pilots into functioning national programmes. For EU health ministries, hospital administrators and the estimated tens of millions of current and former smokers across the bloc, the project's conclusion this year marks a turning point in how the European Union approaches its deadliest cancer.

EU Lung Cancer Screening: How SOLACE Aims to Improve Early Detection

This EU lung cancer screening effort matters because early detection is the single biggest lever available against a disease that still kills more Europeans than any other cancer. SOLACE's final consortium meeting, held in Vienna on 12 and 13 March 2026, brought partners together to present results and chart what comes next, including a proposed successor programme known as SOLACE+.

The Challenge of Lung Cancer in Europe

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death among men in the EU and one of the top causes among women, despite years of declining smoking rates. According to Eurostat, cancer caused 1.16 million deaths across the EU in 2023, accounting for 23.9% of all deaths that year, and lung cancer alone accounts for just under one in five of those cancer deaths.

Projections published in Annals of Oncology's European cancer mortality predictions for 2026 estimate a male lung cancer death rate of 22.9 per 100,000, still the highest of any cancer type for men even after a 22.6% decline compared with 2020-2022. For women, the picture is more complex: lung cancer mortality is now levelling off at around 12.5 per 100,000, having fallen more slowly than in men, while breast cancer (12.6 per 100,000) has edged narrowly ahead as the leading cause of female cancer death in several projections. Overall, the EU is projected to record 684,600 male cancer deaths and 544,900 female cancer deaths in 2026, modest increases on 2020-2022 driven largely by an ageing population.

The core problem SOLACE was built to address is late diagnosis. Lung cancer is frequently found only once it has spread, when treatment options narrow and survival odds fall sharply. Structured screening of high-risk groups with low-dose CT has been shown internationally to shift diagnosis to earlier, more treatable stages, but implementation across the EU has been fragmented, with wide variation in access between and within member states.

How SOLACE Aims to Revolutionise Early Detection

SOLACE's core method is low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening, delivered through pilot programmes designed to reach people who are typically underrepresented in existing schemes, including women, people from marginalised communities, and those already living with chronic lung conditions. Three flagship pilots, all of which exceeded their recruitment targets, tested different approaches to closing this gap.

One pilot, led by Professor Marie-Pierre Revel across 14 centres in 10 countries, focused specifically on improving women's participation in lung cancer screening, a group historically underserved by programmes designed around male smoking patterns. Poland's pilot took a different route, using mobile screening units to reach rural populations that would otherwise have no practical access to a hospital-based CT scanner.

Joanna Chorostowska-Wynimko, SOLACE's Co-Scientific Coordinator, described the central lesson from the rollout at the European Cancer Screening and Early Detection Policy Summit in Brussels on 17-18 February 2026: "The recruitment process proved to be one of the biggest challenges. But we have shown that we need tailored interventions, and we have to understand the cultural context of every targeted population." That insight, that a single EU-wide template does not work, has shaped SOLACE's practical guidelines for national implementation, which cover everything from invitation letters to risk-stratification criteria.

37 partners from 15 EU countries contributed to the consortium
More than 30,000 people screened across 11 countries during the pilot phase
All three flagship pilots exceeded their recruitment targets
Project findings were presented at the European Congress of Radiology in Vienna, 4-8 March 2026

Integration with EU Health Policy and Research

SOLACE is not a standalone research exercise. It operates under the EU4Health Programme 2021-2027 and forms part of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, the European Commission's flagship strategy for reducing the cancer burden across member states. Funding and oversight run through HaDEA, giving the project direct lines into EU policymaking rather than leaving its findings to sit in academic journals.

That policy integration became visible on 28 April 2026, when SOLACE published a lay summary examining whether national screening programmes can be made sustainable, structured around three pillars: ecological sustainability (reducing the environmental footprint of repeated imaging), social sustainability (equitable access for underserved groups) and economic sustainability (long-term financing and workforce capacity). These are precisely the questions national health ministries in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Poland and other member states must answer before committing to permanent screening infrastructure.

Looking beyond the project's formal end in March 2026, its clinical and policy networks are being carried forward by the newly established European Lung Cancer Screening Alliance (ELCSA), set up jointly by the European Respiratory Society and the European Society of Radiology. The consortium is also pursuing SOLACE+, a proposed follow-on programme that would help more countries move from small pilots to fully funded national screening programmes, provided EU funding is secured. Readers following broader EU policy trends can find related analysis in our health articles covering EU public health initiatives.

Expected Impact on Patient Outcomes and Healthcare Systems

Widening lung cancer screening access is expected to shift diagnoses towards earlier stages, when surgery and less aggressive treatment remain viable options and survival rates are substantially higher than for late-stage disease. For national health systems, earlier detection also reduces the long-term cost burden of treating advanced-stage cancer, which typically requires more prolonged, more expensive combinations of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and palliative care.

The social impact of closing the screening gap falls disproportionately on specific groups. Low-income households and people in rural regions, who often face longer travel distances to diagnostic imaging centres and are less likely to be reached by routine screening invitations, stand to gain the most from mobile and community-based approaches like the one piloted in Poland. Women, who SOLACE identified as underrepresented in existing screening cohorts despite rising female lung cancer rates linked to changing smoking patterns, are a second group whose outcomes could shift meaningfully if national programmes adopt SOLACE's targeted recruitment strategies. People already managing chronic lung conditions, who face elevated lung cancer risk but have sometimes been excluded from screening due to eligibility criteria built around smoking history alone, form a third group SOLACE explicitly targeted.

For families across the EU, the practical consequence of earlier detection is straightforward: a diagnosis caught while a tumour is small and localised carries a fundamentally different prognosis, and a fundamentally different set of choices, than one caught after the disease has spread. Readers interested in how EU institutions are financing preventive care more broadly can see our Baba International coverage of EU health and finance policy.

Conclusion: A Healthier Future for Europe

SOLACE has demonstrated, across 11 countries and more than 30,000 screened individuals, that lung cancer screening can be scaled and adapted to reach the people existing programmes miss. Its conclusion in March 2026 does not end the effort: the European Lung Cancer Screening Alliance and the proposed SOLACE+ programme are designed to carry its guidelines and networks into permanent, EU-wide screening infrastructure. Whether that ambition is realised now depends on national governments translating SOLACE's evidence into funded programmes, and on the European Commission securing further EU4Health resources to support SOLACE+.

Baba International Editorial Team

Our editorial team specialises in UK and EU personal finance, health policy, and economic analysis. All content is researched using authoritative sources including the ONS, NHS, Bank of England, ECB, and Eurostat.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the SOLACE lung cancer screening project actually do?

SOLACE runs pilot low-dose CT screening programmes across EU member states, tests strategies to reach underrepresented groups such as women and rural populations, and produces practical guidelines that national health ministries can use to build permanent screening programmes.

Who funds the SOLACE project?

SOLACE is funded through the European Commission's EU4Health Programme 2021-2027 and managed by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), as part of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan.

Has SOLACE ended, and what happens next?

The project formally concluded on 31 March 2026 after its final consortium meeting in Vienna. Its networks continue through the newly formed European Lung Cancer Screening Alliance, and the consortium is seeking funding for a follow-on programme, SOLACE+.

Who is most likely to benefit from expanded lung cancer screening in the EU?

SOLACE identified women, people from marginalised or rural communities, and people with existing chronic lung conditions as groups currently underrepresented in screening who stand to gain the most from wider, better-targeted programmes.

What should EU readers do if they are at risk of lung cancer?

Current or former heavy smokers, and anyone with a chronic lung condition or strong family history of lung cancer, should ask their national health authority or GP whether a low-dose CT screening programme is available in their country or region, and should not wait for symptoms to appear before raising the question, since SOLACE's own findings show early-stage disease is often symptom-free.