Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

Noninvasive diagnosis, whether by sampling body fluids, body scans, or other technique, has the potential to simplify early cancer detection. A classic example is Pap smear screening, which has helped to reduce cervical cancer 75% over the last 50 years. No test is error-free; the real concern is sufficient accuracy combined with ease of use. This paper will discuss methods that measure gene expression or epigenetic markers in oral cells or saliva to diagnose oral and pharyngeal cancers, without requiring surgical biopsy. Evidence for lung and other distal cancer detection is also reviewed.

Comments

Originally published in :

ISRN Oncol. 2012; 2012: 931301. Published online 2012 September 24. doi: 10.5402/2012/931301 PMCID: PMC3462394 2012 G. R. Adami and A. J. Adami. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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