Cancer screening in Australia: future directions in melanoma, Lynch syndrome, and liver, lung and prostate cancers.

Weber MF1, Marshall HM2, Rankin N3, Duffy S4, Fong KM2, Dunlop K5, Humphries L6, Smit AK7, Cust AE8, Taylor N9, Mitchell G10, Kang YJ9, Tucker K11, Jenkins M12, Macrae F13, Lockart I14, Danta M14, Armstrong BK15, Howe M16.

Author information

1: Cancer Research Division, Cancer Council NSW, Sydney, Australia; School of Public Health, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
2: Department of Thoracic Medicine, The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; University of Queensland Thoracic Research Centre, The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Australia.
3: Cancer Research Division, Cancer Council NSW, Sydney, Australia.
4: Queen Mary University of London, UK.
5: Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia; Centre for Genetics Education, NSW Health, Sydney, Australia.
6: Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
7: Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia; Sydney Health Ethics, Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia; Melanoma Institute Australia, University of Sydney, NSW.
8: Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia; Melanoma Institute Australia, University of Sydney, NSW.
9: Cancer Research Division, Cancer Council NSW, Sydney, Australia; Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
10: The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Parkville Familial Cancer Centre, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
11: Hereditary Cancer Centre, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Prince of Wales Clinical School, UNSW Sydney, Australia.
12: Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
13: Colorectal Medicine and Genetics, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, VIC, Australia; Department of Medicine, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
14: St Vincent's Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, Australia; Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
15: School of Public Health, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia; School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Perth.
16: Sax Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia, megan.howe@saxinstitute.org.au.

Abstract

While Australia now has well-established national screening programs for breast, bowel and cervical cancers, research continues into the feasibility of developing systematic screening programs for a number of other cancers. In this paper, experts in their fields provide perspectives on the current state of play and future directions for screening and surveillance for melanoma, Lynch syndrome, and liver, lung and prostate cancers in Australia. Although the evidence does not support population screening, there may be opportunities to prevent thousands of deaths through systematic approaches to the early detection of lung cancer and melanoma, testing for Lynch syndrome, and organised surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma among individuals at high risk - guided by targeted research. The paper also looks at what impact new prostate specific antigen testing guidelines are having on screening for prostate cancer.