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SUMMARY:Festival of Science: The sixth sense of the oncologist. How doctor
 s can find cancer earlier and why you may not necessarily want to know. - 
 organized by Gianmarco Contino\, VHI\, St EdmundCollege
DTSTART:20180315T180000Z
DTEND:20180315T193000Z
UID:TALK101851@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Gianmarco Contino
DESCRIPTION:How far in advance can we detect cancer and how useful is earl
 y diagnosis? Join a panel of experts to discuss the exciting opportunities
  and hidden challenges of early cancer detection.\n\nFor the majority of c
 ancer patients\, a diagnosis is made after symptoms become clinically appa
 rent. By that time cancer is often at an advanced stage and treatments usu
 ally involve some combination of chemotherapy\, radiotherapy and surgery. 
 These treatments are gruelling and survival rates are highly variable depe
 nding on the type of cancer and the stage at which it is detected.   \nCan
 cer develops slowly over several years through an evolutionary process in 
 which cells with a fitness advantage survive and can become dominant\, rat
 her akin to Darwin’s theories for population genetics.  Early detection 
 of cancer aims to identify pre-cancerous changes in a tissue at risk of ev
 olving into an invasive cancer. The rationale for deploying tests in searc
 h of pre-cancerous changes is that treatment at an early stage is likely t
 o offer higher chances of cure than when cancer is detected at an advanced
  stage. Accurate predictions about the natural history of a lesion is ther
 efore at the core of early detection of cancer\; this is increasingly poss
 ible as the result of the improved epidemiological\, clinical and molecula
 r information available which can be linked to cancer statistics for hundr
 eds of thousands of patients. \nIn addition to NHS led healthcare programm
 es\, we also live in a world in which there is increasing interest in the 
 individual taking ownership of their health outcomes. There are opportunit
 ies to self-prescribe screening tests and undergo healthcare checks withou
 t a full understanding of the significance and implications of what a posi
 tive or negative result might imply.\nA panel of experts will guide you in
  trying to answer some of the important questions arising from the rapid e
 volution of early cancer detection: How likely is that early cancer to bec
 ome a clinically relevant problem during my lifespan? And how does that ri
 sk compare to other healthcare problems? If I am found to be at risk of ca
 ncer does it mean I am now a sick person or am I still a healthy individua
 l? What level of false positive or negative test results is acceptable? Ho
 w can we weigh up the side-effects of preventative testing on a large-scal
 e healthy population versus the poorer outcomes advanced cancer on a per i
 ndividual basis? How does screening stack up with inequality in healthcare
  systems?\nPlease join us in the scenic Garden Room of St Edmund College f
 or a debate on the many factors that contribute to the definition of harm 
 benefit balance of early detection of cancer at the individual and societa
 l level. \n
LOCATION:Garden Room\, St Edmund's College\, Mount Pleasant\, CB3 0BN
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