Abstract

Survival improves when cancer is detected early. However, ~50% of cancers are at an advanced stage when diagnosed. Early detection of cancer or precancerous change allows early intervention to try to slow or prevent cancer development and lethality. To achieve early detection of all cancers, numerous challenges must be overcome. It is vital to better understand who is at greatest risk of developing cancer. We also need to elucidate the biology and trajectory of precancer and early cancer to identify consequential disease that requires intervention. Insights must be translated into sensitive and specific early detection technologies and be appropriately evaluated to support practical clinical implementation. Interdisciplinary collaboration is key; advances in technology and biological understanding highlight that it is time to accelerate early detection research and transform cancer survival.

Keywords

Cancer detectionCancerIntervention (counseling)DiseaseStage (stratigraphy)MedicineCancer screeningIntensive care medicineRisk analysis (engineering)BiologyPathologyInternal medicine

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Publication Info

Year
2022
Type
article
Volume
375
Issue
6586
Pages
eaay9040-eaay9040
Citations
1040
Access
Closed

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David L. Crosby, Sangeeta N. Bhatia, Kevin M. Brindle et al. (2022). Early detection of cancer. Science , 375 (6586) , eaay9040-eaay9040. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay9040

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DOI
10.1126/science.aay9040