title: Cancer risk and early detection assessment.
abstract: Nurses and physicians form an ideal corps for implementing cancer prevention and early detection efforts: providing health education, promoting health enrichment, defining high-risk groups and identifying patients who belong to them, and providing screening to ensure early diagnosis and prompt treatment. A personal medical history, a history of exposures in life-style, and a family history form the foundation for cancer risk assessment. The physical examination that follows takes into account the incidence and indications of cancer at various sites and the patient's risk profile. Health professionals can incorporate screening techniques into everyday practice by gathering information in the medical history, incorporating cancer detection in the physical examination, following up with more frequent screenings or referrals for those needing them, and becoming cancer detection advocates among patients and professional peers.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Prevention and Detection Programs for Nurses, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Huoston 77030.
authors.forename: L N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Spitz
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005833:Genital Neoplasms, Female / Q000175:diagnosis; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D010808:Physical Examination; D012307:Risk Factors; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D014565:Urogenital Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis