Targeted Screening for Cancer: Learnings and Applicability to Melanoma: A Scoping Review

TL;DR

This review examines personalized cancer screening strategies across various cancers to inform future melanoma screening approaches.

Contribution

The study provides insights into personalized cancer screening components and outcomes to guide melanoma screening development.

Findings

Personalized cancer screening programs are mostly feasible and effective, with varied risk assessment tools and schedules.

Breast cancer studies dominated the literature, with fewer studies on colorectal, prostate, lung, and ovarian cancers.

Most studies were conducted in Europe and North America, with inconsistent approaches across screening programs.

Abstract

This scoping review aims to systematically gather evidence from personalized cancer-screening studies across various cancers, summarize key components and outcomes, and provide implications for a future personalized melanoma-screening strategy. Peer-reviewed articles and clinical trial databases were searched for, with restrictions on language and publication date. Sixteen distinct studies were identified and included in this review. The studies’ results were synthesized according to key components, including risk assessment, risk thresholds, screening pathways, and primary outcomes of interest. Studies most frequently reported about breast cancers (n = 7), followed by colorectal (n = 5), prostate (n = 2), lung (n = 1), and ovarian cancers (n = 1). The identified screening programs were evaluated predominately in Europe (n = 6) and North America (n = 4). The studies employed multiple different risk assessment tools, screening schedules, and outcome measurements, with few consistent approaches identified across the studies. The benefit–harm assessment of each proposed personalized screening program indicated that the majority were feasible and effective. The establishment of a personalized screening program is complex, but results of the reviewed studies indicate that it is feasible, can improve participation rates, and screening outcomes. While the review primarily examines screening programs for cancers other than melanoma, the insights can be used to inform the development of a personalized melanoma screening strategy.

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