The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer (PLCO) Screening Trial Pathology Tissue Resource.

Background: Pathology tissue specimens with associated epidemiologic and clinical data are valuable for cancer research. The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial undertook a large-scale effort to create a public resource of pathology tissues from PLCO participants who developed a cancer during the trial.

Methods: Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks were obtained from pathology laboratories on a loan basis for central processing of tissue microarrays, with additional free-standing tissue cores collected for nucleic acid extraction.

Building Successful Relationships in the PLCO Cancer Screening Trial.

Biomedical research cannot succeed without funding, knowledgeable staff, and appropriate infrastructure. There are however equally important but intangible factors that are rarely considered in planning large multidisciplinary endeavors or evaluating their success. The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial required extensive collaborations between individuals from many fields, including clinicians, clinical trialists, and administrators; it also addressed questions across the spectrum of cancer prevention and control.

Changes in and Impact of the Death Review Process in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial.

Death review was conducted for the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) cancer screening trial to avoid the biases associated with causes of death entered on death certificates. An algorithm selected deaths for review. Records on diagnosis and terminal illness were perused in the coordinating center and by the chair of the death review committee (DRC).

The PLCO Biorepository: Creating, Maintaining, and Administering a Unique Biospecimen Resource.

Inclusion of biospecimens in population-based studies is an integral part of understanding disease etiology, identifying biomarkers and developing prevention and treatment strategies. The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) cancer screening trial collected, processed and stored biospecimens from participants to create a biorepository of specimens which serves as a useful resource for a broad research community. PLCO collected blood samples from consented screening arm participants at six screening rounds and a buccal sample from consented control arm participants.

Flexible sigmoidoscopy in the randomized prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian (PLCO) cancer screening trial: added yield from a second screening examination.

Background: Among randomized trials evaluating flexible sigmoidoscopy (FSG) for its effect on colorectal cancer mortality, only the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial screened its participants more than one time. We report outcomes from the PLCO screening FSG program and evaluate the increased yield produced by a second FSG.

Methods: Participants were screened by 60-cm FSG in 10 regional screening centers at study entry and 3 or 5 years later, depending on the time of random assignment.