Articles related to CANCER SCREENING

A group of UK researchers has created a novel prostate cancer (PaC) screening test (EpiSwitch) that, when combined with the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, has a high degree of accuracy for detecting the cancer. The test is based on measurement of five chromosome conformations that were first discovered in association with advanced PaC. The EpiSwitch test has a high positive predictive value for the diagnosis of PaC (92%) and a high negative predictive value (94%) when used in conjunction with the PSA level as a continuous variable, according to the researchers. The study’s authors advocated for additional research to investigate the test’s efficacy in larger patient samples, even though it was based on a scant number of patient samples.

In a study of 37,887 men 50 to 60 years old, those with PSA of >= 3 ng/ml underwent MRI imaging of the prostate and were randomized to systematic biopsy plus targeted biopsy or MRI-targeted biopsy only. MRI-directed targeted biopsy reduced the risk of overdiagnosis by half but did delay detection of intermediate-risk tumors in a small proportion of patients.

In this cohort analysis, which included male patients examined at 128 US Veterans Health Administration facilities between 2005 (n = 4,678,412) and 2019 (n = 5,371,701), facilities with greater rates of prostate-specific antigen screening showed lower rates of eventual metastatic prostate cancer incidence.

In this randomized trial from Poland, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands, the study population of approximately 85,000 individuals were randomly assigned to colonoscopy screening or usual care. The risk of colorectal cancer at 10 years was 18% lower in the screening cohort.

Offering 0.25 credits, this 30-minute CME program discusses the new cervical cancer screening guidelines recently published by both the American Society for Colonoscopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) and the American Cancer Society (ACS).

Technology to the rescue. Employing artificial intelligence (AI) during a colonoscopy could save money and lead to earlier detection of cancer and better health outcomes for patients. AI detection tools also were associated with a cost savings of $57 per patient after lowering discounted costs from $3,400 to $3,343, which persisted in secondary colonoscopy modeling analysis.