Cancer Screening 2016

The primary goal of cancer screening is to reduce cancer-related mortality without incurring significant harm. Screening efforts for solid tumors, therefore, have targeted the precursors of the most common and the most deadly cancers—breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate cancer. Balancing risk and benefit has led to controversy regarding the timing of cancer screening—when to begin, how often to screen and when to stop—and the nature of the modality of cancer screening—invasive or noninvasive, laboratory-centered or imaging-centered. Evidence-based guidelines published by general medical societies, subspecialty societies and publicly funded task forces on population-based screening aid healthcare providers in making individualized decisions with their patients.