Is Cancer Screening Necessary? Recently, some people have questioned the necessity of cancer screening, arguing that it is not effective in reducing deaths, that screening only benefits a very small percentage of people, that most people are over-diagnosed and some of them suffer health damage instead, and that some cancers may be harmless for life if undetected. Is this true? Let’s hear what the experts have to say. At the 17th National Congress of Clinical Oncology from September 17-21, the following experts presented their views on cancer screening from different perspectives. Here are some highlights for the readers. Jiang Zefei, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO) and director of the breast cancer department of Beijing 307 Hospital, said that in the current Chinese population with widely varying medical and knowledge levels, screening provides certain warnings and detects some new cases without blame, as most Chinese people only have medical checkups once a year. ”I have always understood the social benefits involved in cancer screening in a positive way. Because from the national policy point of view, it is indeed an issue that needs to be considered, but if I were to draw a conclusion, I think that screening should still be done, but not indiscriminately, and the significance of screening should not be denied because of the results of certain foreign studies and no screening should be done.” Jiang Zefei said. Jiang Zefei also said that screening is different from census, the purpose of screening is to detect some cases in advance from the fixed population, and its screening population itself has a certain exposure rate and incidence rate. In the case of breast cancer screening, for example, there are both manual and mammography screening methods, but not all women of all ages should receive mammography screening. I would rather suggest that the Chinese government agencies understand the significance of these programs and implement different screening methods in different communities and for different populations to achieve a reasonable investment of resources. For example, the timing of screening should not miss the peak age of onset. Therefore, I think instead of simply talking about a certain screening program, it is better to establish a comprehensive medical protection system. Zhang Xiaodong, chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology of Peking University Cancer Hospital, said that I do not agree with the significance of cancer screening from the perspective of reducing mortality, because the current academic consensus is that the survival of tumor patients for more than 5 years is considered as a cure. In the long term, screening may not be meaningful to patients, but in the near term, screening is conducive to early diagnosis and treatment, thus improving patients’ quality of life and their 5-year or 10-year survival rate. ”The significance of screening is also illustrated to some extent by the colorectal cancer screening program implemented in the U.S. Twenty years ago, the implementation of colorectal cancer screening in the U.S. was opposed by many in Congress, but after 20 years of implementation, the incidence and mortality rates of colorectal cancer in the U.S. have dropped significantly. Currently, Japan has a high cure rate for stomach and esophageal cancers, thanks to their early diagnosis and treatment and strong awareness of screening. In contrast, Chinese people have a low awareness of disease screening.” Zhang stated. Zhang also said that the interpretation of the relevant study should first recognize its limited scope, such as what kind of screening for what kind of diseases, etc., otherwise it may make our efforts to promote the idea of early diagnosis and treatment of tumors for many years come to naught. Tang Lei, deputy chief physician of medical imaging department of Peking University Cancer Hospital, believes that the view that only a small number of people will benefit from screening and most people will be “tied up” is actually a false proposition. In the premise that the pathogenesis of tumor is not yet fully understood and cannot be predicted and prevented, anyone can be one of the small percentage. Therefore, even if the contribution of screening to the reduction of overall mortality is low, the significance for positive individuals is 100%. Therefore relevant experts should work in substantive areas such as individualization of screening protocols and identification of early positive signs, rather than arguing whether screening should be done or not. ”As for the side effects of various types of X-ray containing tests, there is no evidence that there is a risk of cancer or other physical harm within the doses and time intervals specified for screening.” Tang Lei said.