Abstract
This paper was presented as a special lecture entitled "My Future Suggestions Regarding Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening" given at the 49th General Meeting of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Cancer Screening held in Okinawa in 2010.
Recently, many other kinds of cancer screening programs are carried out nationwide in Japan. It is necessary to evaluate each cancer screening before and after its implementation from several points of view. This paper describes the basic concept and methods of evaluating screening programs using decision-making analysis. In this paper, the important problems and keywords are explained from the following perspectives: the eight conditions of cancer screening, the methods of researching the evaluation process, RCTs (Randomized Controlled Trials), the specificity of screening test, test sensitivity and program sensitivity, the basic style and responsibility of scientific papers, etc. It is proposed that the medical decision-making process in cancer screening be reopened for study and debate.
