Early detection of cancer
Early detection of cancer greatly increases the chances of treatment success. There are two main components of early detection of cancer: education to promote early diagnosis and screening.
Recognizing possible cancer warning signs and taking prompt action leads to an early diagnosis. Greater awareness of the potential signs of cancer, among doctors, nurses and other health care providers, as well as among the general public, can have a major impact on the disease. Some early signs of cancer include lumps, unhealed sores, abnormal bleeding, persistent indigestion, and chronic hoarseness. Early diagnosis is particularly relevant for cancers of the breast, cervix, mouth, larynx, colon and rectum and skin.
Screening
Detection refers to the use of simple tests in a healthy population in order to identify people who have disease but do not yet have symptoms. Examples include breast cancer screening using mammography and cervical cancer screening using cytologic screening methods, including Pap smears.
Detection programs should be carried out only when their effectiveness is demonstrated, when resources (personnel, equipment, etc.) are sufficient to cover almost the entire target group, when there are facilities to confirm diagnoses and for the treatment and follow-up of those with abnormal results and when the prevalence of the disease is high enough to justify the effort and costs of detection.
Based on existing evidence, mass population screening can only be promoted for breast and cervical cancer, through mammography screening and cytology screening, in countries where resources are available for comprehensive coverage of the population. Several ongoing studies are currently evaluating low-cost approaches to screening that can be implemented and sustained in low-resource settings. For example, visual inspection with acetic acid may prove to be an effective screening method for cervical cancer in the near future. More studies are needed to evaluate low-cost alternative methods for mammography screening, such as clinical breast examination.