title: Principles of cancer screening.
abstract: Screening for cancer is an important aspect of cancer prevention and treatment. The science of screening is based on epidemiologic principles that are central to understanding the potential risks and benefits of a screening program. Screening is best applied to those conditions that are relatively common and have an important impact on quality of life and for which acceptable tests and treatments are available and affordable.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, USA.
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: MacLean
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006295:Health Resources; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity