Future perspectives for cancer screening

The past 20 years have seen major advances in screening for different cancer types. Screening is however destined to evolve, in terms of target populations, procedures used and the overall positioning of screening in the fight against the different forms of cancer. At the same time, screening is expected progressively to become more closely tailored to the level of risk; the type of tests and the frequency with which they are used will be adjusted in a more personalized approach. A critical issue is also to provide the population at large with more extensive information on the advantages and disadvantages, particularly of screening programmes known for the potentially high rate of overdiagnosis. These issues and their evolution are considered herein, in the context of screening for different forms of cancer (breast, prostate, colorectal, lung, cervical and melanoma).