ecancermedicalscience has just published an editorial on the ethics of cancer screening campaigns.  There is a general lack of randomized controlled trial evidence for many of the campaigns currently recommended in the US which represents a real ethical problem when it is considered that these campaigns involve healthy people.

The author, Vinay Prasad from the National Cancer Institute, USA, discusses whether overall mortality is directly improved by screening tests and if they really have a significant positive effect on the quantity and quality of life.

Read the editorial in full for free.