MERSEYSIDE people are being recruited for a lung cancer screening study.

Doctors hope the project at Liverpool university could significantly cut deaths caused by the disease.

Researchers are approaching more than 85,000 participants from Merseyside and other parts of the UK to take part. The pilot project will investigate whether a national lung cancer screening programme could be started up.

People aged between 50 and 75, chosen at random, from Liverpool, Sefton and Knowsley, will get letters asking them to take part in the trial and to respond to a questionnaire. Those selected will be invited to Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, where they will be randomly selected to receive, or not receive, a CT-Scan.

They will then be monitored for early signs of lung cancer.

Professor John Field, Chief Investigator of UK Lung Screening (UKLS) at the university’s Cancer Research Centre, said: “Although the number of deaths from lung cancer is falling, it still kills more than 35,000 people each year in the UK, which is more than any other cancer.

“The success of CT screening trials could potentially lead to the implementation of a national lung cancer screening programme, which could have an enormous impact on the future of all lung cancer treatment strategies.

“We could see significant changes in managing the disease, similar to the impact of breast screening over the last 15 years.”