Early detection of cancer: ideas for a debate.

Even if the overall number of cancer is increasing, the mortality has started to decrease in the Western World. The role of early detection in this decrease is a matter of debate. To assess its impact on mortality it is important to distinguish between diagnosis of cancer in symptomatic patients, and early detection in asymptomatic individuals who may self-refer or who may be offered ad hoc or systematic screening.

Predictive value of image cytometry for diagnosis of lung cancer in heavy smokers.

The Research Institute for Diagnosis and Treatment of Early Lung Cancer (RIDTELC) Lung Study was initiated to determine whether lung cancer screening by automated sputum cytometry combined with conventional sputum cytology and auto-fluorescence in addition to white light bronchoscopy could enhance the detection rate of early lung cancer. The present study analyses the initial findings to evaluate the efficiency of automated sputum cytology in predicting the diagnosis of lung cancer. In this study, malignancy grade was used as a predictive parameter for lung cancer.

Can semi-automated image cytometry on induced sputum become a screening tool for lung cancer? Evaluation of quantitative semi-automated sputum cytometry on radon- and uranium-exposed workers.

The correlations between semi-automated sputum cytometry (ASC), conventional cytology and the final diagnosis was investigated in industrially-exposed workers. Slides of sputum samples from 201 former uranium miners with silicosis, 100 patients with asbestosis, 103 workers resected for lung cancer, and 200 controls (50% smokers), were stained using the Papanicolaou (Pap) method and the Feulgen reaction with thionin. Cytometry was performed using the Cyto-Savant automated system.

A pilot study of autofluorescent endoscopy for the in vivo detection of laryngeal cancer.

Objectives: To determine the advantage of autofluorescent endoscopy for the identification of laryngeal cancer.

Study Design: This is a prospective, multicenter clinical study. We investigated whether autofluorescent endoscopy using the Lung Imaging Fluorescent Endoscopy (LIFE)-Lung System (Xillix, Olympus) is capable of identifying early cancer of the larynx, especially in comparison with conventional white-light endoscopy and microscopic laryngoscopy.