Patients in Luxembourg can wait six months to be screened

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Medical imaging plays a key role in the diagnosis of diseases, but the availability of examinations such as magnetic resonance imaging (IRM), computed tomography (CT) and mammography raises serious questions in Luxembourg.

Mammography

Screening Programme (PM)

70% of surveys are conducted within 60 days. Only 2% require a wait of more than 180 days. However, from 2022 to 2023, the median waiting time increased from 26 to 46 days.

Out-of-programme examinations

Only 15% are completed in 60 days, and for 41% of patients the wait exceeds 180 days.

Challenges

Limited equipment - 13.5 machines per million inhabitants, which is below the European average. This hinders the achievement of screening expansion goals.

MRI

In 2023, 75.8% of examinations were conducted within 60 days, of which 20% were conducted within 15 days. However, 7% of patients waited more than 120 days.
IRM volume grew by 21.2% over the year, but waiting times remained stable due to optimised equipment performance.

CT

Waiting is less problematic, with 88.4% of surveys completed within 60 days and 31.6% completed in just 7 days. Current resources can cover the demand, but potential diversion to IRM may complicate the situation.

Luxembourg has higher equipment utilisation rates (127 MRI examinations per 1000 inhabitants) than Belgium and the Netherlands, but lags behind France and Germany. The lack of coordination in resource planning and the lack of standards for allocating requests for examinations pose significant challenges.

Experts are already aware of the problem and have formed a pool of recommendations that could potentially improve the situation:

Monitoring optimization
Introduction of strategic monitoring of equipment utilisation and analysis of delays.
Documentation
A more detailed description of the reasons for and urgency of the examinations.
Patient and physician education
Advocate for the judicious use of surveys to reduce the burden on equipment.
Increased accessibility
Centralising records and extending time intervals for screening.
Reduction of unwarranted surveys
Implementation of the recommendations of the European Society of Radiology.

Another problem may be the limited use of equipment at weekends and on public holidays, when appointments are limited to just a couple of hours a day. However, it is possible that if the number of examinations is reduced to the minimum necessary, this problem will disappear.

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