European journal of cancer : official journal for European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) [and] European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
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The aim of this study was to review the evidence in the literature for organised cancer screening programmes. A Medline search for publications related to organised cancer screening programmes and their components was done. While there is a broad descriptive literature on various cancer screening programmes, there are few published studies that evaluate the impact of organised cancer screening. ⋯ However, the studies tend to describe organised screening programmes rather than evaluate their effectiveness relative to opportunistic screening. Furthermore, most studies focus on individual components of organised screening programmes, rather than on the programmes as a whole. More research is needed that directly compares organised with opportunistic cancer screening.