MANUSCRIPT: Cancer screening in the United States, 2013 – A CME Activity
In this yearly report, we provide a summary of the current American Cancer Society (ACS) cancer screening guidelines, a summary of guidance to health care professionals and the public related to early cancer detection tests that are not yet recommended for mass screening due to uncertainty about the balance of benefits and harms, and the most recent data on adult cancer screening rates and trends. In order for guidelines to reflect the most current scientific evidence, the ACS monitors the medical and scientific literature on an ongoing basis, and generally guidelines have been reviewed and updated at least every 5 years, or sooner if new evidence warrants an immediate update in recommendations. An update in the ACS guidelines development process was published in 2011, and also summarized in this journal in 2012.1,2 The annual guideline reviews, as well as the more detailed cancer screening guideline updates, are published as stand-alone articles and are available online at cacancerjournal.com. Table 1 shows the recent history of guidelines updates, as well as those currently in progress.3-15 In this update of ACS cancer screening guidelines, we describe the current guidelines, an update in the guidance for lung cancer screening announced in 2011,2 and an update in cervical cancer screening guidelines.7
Written by Brian S McGowan, PhD
Brian is a research scientist and educational technologist. He helped transform Pfizer’s Medical Education Group and previously served in educational leadership roles at HealthAnswers, Inc.; Acumentis, LLC.; Cephalon; and Wyeth. He taught graduate medical education programs at Arcadia University for 10 years. Dr. McGowan recently authored the book "#socialQI: Simple Solutions for Improving Your Healthcare" and has been invited to speak internationally on the subject of information flow, technology, and learning in healthcare.
