Ten years of screening for cancer in a family practice.
The Cohocton office of Tri-County Family Medicine has maintained an active screening program for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cervical cancer since 1974. This article reports a retrospective study of all patients with a diagnosis of cancer during the ten-year period from July 1974 to June 1984. Particular attention was paid to the relationship of screening to the diagnosis of these cancers. Sixty-nine cancers were diagnosed during the study period. Screening detected 7 of 11 breast cancers, 2 of 11 colorectal cancers, and 2 of 3 cervical cancers. In addition, all cases of respiratory cancer occurred in cigarette smokers and were therefore theoretically preventable. The data suggest that a large population of inactive, unscreened patients is a major obstacle to cancer prevention.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000453:epidemiology; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009518:New York; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology