[Cancer prevention and early detection: what does make sense?]

Although cancer is a common disease, there is only a limited number of effective measures for prevention and early detection. The European Cancer Code gives valid recommendations for behavioural changes, of which not smoking, eating "healthily" and avoiding obesity are probably the most important ones. As for the most frequent cancer types, there is evidence that screening programmes for early detection of colorectal, breast and cervix cancer can reduce morbidity and mortality. For lack of such evidence, no screening programmes for lung and prostate cancer can be recommended at this time.