Le dépistage du cancer sauve-t-il vraiment des vies ?

Chroniques génomiques

Does cancer screening really save lives ?

Biologiste, généticien et immunologiste, Président d’Aprogène (Association pour la promotion de la Génomique), 13007 Marseille, France

^* brjordan@orange.fr

Abstract

Systematic screening for specific cancers has been shown to reduce cancer-specific mortality, but has not demonstrated an effect on all-cause mortality. This paradox is due to minor but frequent risks of screening bearing on a large population, and also to the small beneficial effect expected even if screening is highly efficient. Upcoming multicancer detection approaches should allow a better detection of the effect (if any) of screening on all-cause mortality.