Population cancer screening

Controlled trials to evaluate mass screening programs for cancer detection have been singularly lacking. High cost, lack of medical manpower, and low yield have contributed to this problem. A new program in cancer detection (CAN-SCREEN) has been developed jointly by The Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and the Preventive Medicine Institute in New York City. This program attempts to provide a quality cancer-detection examination with increased cost effectiveness. Features include: 1) a self-administered questionnaire on medical history, symptoms, and risk factors; 2) nonphysician examiners; 3) risk-factor analysis with a predetermined decision logic to determine type and periodicity of examination; and 4) primary intervention (health education). This collaborative program between two institutions in two cities demonstrates the feasibility of introducing similar programs elsewhere. A data base shared by cooperating centers permits information on all patients to be used for evaluation of new techniques, end results, etc. A randomized controlled trial has been designed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the questionnaire alone and of the questionnaire and examination.