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.
New: interactive recommendation comparison
The Nordic Recommendation Comparator compares what each Nordic guideline recommends for specific clinical questions and automatically highlights where the countries diverge — the areas where harmonisation could focus. Comparison content is © NTOG (Nordic consensus); the interactive engine is powered by Vahtian. Currently a draft seeded with illustrative data for the working group to complete.
Quality-indicator Delphi — public results
The Lung cancer QI Delphi results page disseminates aggregated panel ratings for candidate quality indicators of the Nordic diagnostic pathway, with small-cell (n<5) suppression, and invites open suggestions. The formal modified-RAND/UCLA Delphi runs on an invited Nordic expert panel; the agreed indicators feed the NTOG Nordic common data elements. Content © NTOG; engine powered by Vahtian.
| 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.
Governance, authorship & citation
A collective NTOG position — Nordic clinical consensus, owned and maintained by the society.
Authorship. Developed and reviewed by the NTOG steering committee with contributing experts from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It reflects a Nordic comparison and synthesis — not the opinion of a single author or vendor.
- Status: Nordic consensus comparison — does not replace nationally governed guidelines.
- Version: 1.0 · published 2026 · next scheduled review 2028.
- Maintenance: reviewed by the NTOG steering committee; national guideline links checked at each review.
Contributors and the review record are maintained by the steering committee. Contact the Expert Network to contribute.
NTOG content vs interactive tools
This guideline content is authored and owned by NTOG (© Nordic Thoracic Oncology Group) as a Nordic consensus resource — the society's distinct contribution.
The interactive browser tools linked across this site are software powered by Vahtian, provided for education and research. They are instruments — not NTOG clinical recommendations, and not a substitute for this content or national guidelines.
Suggested citation
Nordic Thoracic Oncology Group. Nordic Lung Cancer Treatment Guidelines — comparative overview. Version 1.0. 2026.
ntog.org/guidelines.html · A citable DOI under NTOG can be assigned on request.
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