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Assessment of Screening for Cancer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Carlo La Vecchia ,
Fabio Levi ,
Silvia Franceschi  and
Peter Boyle
Carlo La Vecchia
Affiliation:
Institut Universitaire de Médecine Sociale et Preventive and Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”
Fabio Levi
Affiliation:
Institut Universitaire de Médecine Sociale et Preventive and Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”
Silvia Franceschi
Affiliation:
Centro di Riferimento Oncologico
Peter Boyle
Affiliation:
International Agency for Research on Cancer
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Abstract

Screening has a relevant role in and is likely to become an increasingly important instrument for cancer control in the near future. This overview summarizes some of the available evidence on the issue. Some of the opinions are well established. The apparent absence of consensus on other issues should be critically evaluated, too, because the evidence on some procedures is substantially more convincing than that on others. High costs, low compliance, poor curability, and substantial false positive rates, in a disease as relatively rare as cancer, often counterbalance in practice the theoretical benefits of diagnostic anticipation. In screening as well as in treatment for cancer, it is unlikely that major technical breakthroughs will occur in the near future. The evaluation of whether the benefits likely to be achieved by the screening program outweigh its disadvantages by a sufficient margin, therefore, should rely on large and carefully planned controlled studies.

Type
Special Section: Assessment Of Preventive Technologies
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , Summer 1991 , pp. 275 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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