Should we use total mortality rather than cancer specific mortality to judge cancer screening programmes? NO.

The article presents the views of the clinical director of Scottish Bowel Screening Programme, Robert J. C. Steele, and the director of Scottish Cancer Registry, David H. Brewster, on using cancer specific mortality for judging cancer screening programmes. It states that screening reduces disease specific mortality, and the randomized trials carried out for breast and colon cancer show 20 percent reduction in disease specific mortality.