National guideline systems
Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland maintain separate guideline systems for lung cancer care.
NTOG does not replace national guideline bodies. Instead, NTOG can support harmonisation by providing access to national guidelines, highlighting differences, and identifying areas where Nordic alignment may be useful.
This page provides direct links to national recommendations and a concise comparison of scope, structure, and access.
Comparative overview
Official national guideline sources for lung cancer care.
| Country | Guideline body | Scope and structure | Access | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | Regional Cancer Centres, RCC | Integrated national care programme covering diagnostics, staging, MDT, surgery, radiotherapy, systemic treatment, palliation, rehabilitation and follow-up. | Open access | View guideline |
| Norway | Helsedirektoratet | National action programme for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of lung cancer, mesothelioma and thymoma. | Open access | View guideline |
| Denmark | Danish Lung Cancer Group, DLCG / DMCG | Modular national guideline structure with separate documents for diagnostics, surgery, radiotherapy, systemic therapy, SCLC, NSCLC, palliation and follow-up. | Open access | View guideline |
| Finland | Finnish Lung Cancer Group / FICAN | National treatment recommendation for locally advanced or metastatic inoperable NSCLC and SCLC, hosted in TerveyskyläPRO. | Restricted professional login | View guideline |
Key differences
- Structure: Sweden and Norway use unified national programmes, while Denmark uses modular disease- and modality-specific documents.
- Implementation: Sweden and Norway are closely linked to national healthcare pathways. Denmark is strongly specialty-group driven.
- Accessibility: Sweden, Norway and Denmark are openly accessible. Finland requires professional login.
- Granularity: Denmark provides the most subspecialised document structure. Sweden offers the most comprehensive single-programme format.
NTOG position
There is currently no single unified Nordic lung cancer treatment guideline.
NTOG can support harmonisation by providing access to national guidelines, highlighting differences, and identifying areas suitable for Nordic alignment.
Lung cancer screening and pulmonary nodule follow-up
NTOG members are working on Nordic collaboration in lung cancer screening and pulmonary nodule follow-up.
This work includes implementation of low-dose CT screening, management of incidental pulmonary nodules, and development of a Pan-Nordic approach to harmonised follow-up pathways.
Read more about Nordic lung cancer screening pilots and the proposed Pan-Nordic pulmonary nodule guideline: Lung cancer screening and pulmonary nodule follow-up.
Related clinical resources
Explore NTOG protocols, tools, expert contacts, and current research collaboration routes.