A Practical Approach to the Screening of Asymptomatic Older Persons for Cancer

Secondary prevention of cancer is aimed at the individual in whom the disease has begun but symptoms have not yet appeared, in order to diagnose and treat early disease and/or prevent spread. Secondary prevention is a reasonable strategy for cancer control in the aged in whom primary prevention, aimed at the individual who has not yet developed the disease, may no longer be feasible. Screening the asymptomatic population at risk may be justified if it enables diagnosis at an asymptomatic or preclinical phase and if treatment at this stage leads to a longer life or reduced morbidity for those individuals whose disease is thereby detected.