# Early detection of cancer

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-crosby-science/  
OnCo record `paper-crosby-science` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Paper cited by one bottleneck page and 32 idea pages, indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 35298272 and published in Science; the citing pages link this DOI, which is how the record was matched.

## Summary

Survival improves when cancer is detected early. However, ~50% of cancers are at an advanced stage when diagnosed. Early detection of cancer or precancerous change allows early intervention to try to slow or prevent cancer development and lethality. To achieve early detection of all cancers, numerous challenges must be overcome. It is vital to better understand who is at greatest risk of developing cancer. We also need to elucidate the biology and trajectory of precancer and early cancer to identify consequential disease that requires intervention. Insights must be translated into sensitive and specific early detection technologies and be appropriately evaluated to support practical clinical implementation. Interdisciplinary collaboration is key; advances in technology and biological understanding highlight that it is time to accelerate early detection research and transform cancer survival.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 35298272 (DOI 10.1126/science.aay9040). Matched by DOI alone: one bottleneck page and 32 idea pages cite this DOI among their external links (the pages are listed under Related), and this page was written so that the citation resolves inside OnCo. No figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: Science
- Year: 2022
- DOI: 10.1126/science.aay9040
- Authors: Crosby D, Bhatia S, Brindle KM, et al.
- What it means: One bottleneck page and 32 idea pages on OnCo cite this paper by its DOI; this record gives the citation a page of its own so a reader can follow it without leaving OnCo. Read the abstract above alongside the citing pages listed under Related; the record was created automatically from the Europe PMC entry and its figures have not been checked by hand.
- Caveats: Matched to the citing OnCo records by DOI alone; the summary reproduces the Europe PMC abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.

## Sources

- Science 2022: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay9040
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35298272/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/35298272

## Connected records

- bottlenecks: [The hardest cancers are found late](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-early-detection/)
- ideas: [A 28-day national pathway for people with a positive multi-cancer blood test](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-mced-positive-resolution-pathway/), [A breath test to rule out cancer in people with vague symptoms](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-breath-voc-symptomatic-ruleout/), [A cancer blood test for older people arriving at A&E with unexplained symptoms](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-emergency-department-cancer-test/), [A live national dashboard of stage at diagnosis as the scorecard for early detection](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-live-stage-dashboard/), [A single 'cancer check at 60' appointment bundling all screening tests](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-bundled-cancer-check-at-60/), [A swallowable sponge test for reflux patients, offered in pharmacies](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-capsule-sponge-pharmacy/), [A ten-dollar blood test for the five cancers that kill most people in poorer countries](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-lmic-five-cancer-methylation-test/), [A urine DNA test to decide who with blood in the urine needs a camera test](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-urine-dna-haematuria-triage/), [A whole-population cancer interception programme: risk-stratify every adult, detect and intercept early](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-population-interception/), [AI clears the normal lung screening scans so radiologists read only the suspicious ones](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-ldct-ai-negative-triage/), [AI that spots pancreatic cancer on scans taken a year before diagnosis](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-pancreas-ai-prediagnostic-ct/), [Blood EBV DNA screening for nasopharyngeal cancer across southern China and Southeast Asia](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-ebv-dna-npc-screening-scaleup/), [Cancer risk scores running automatically in GP records to prompt urgent referral](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-ehr-symptom-signature-prompts/), [Cheap DNA fragment-pattern blood test as a first sieve before expensive cancer tests](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-fragmentomics-first-tier/), [Community health workers with smartphone AI screen for mouth cancer in South Asia](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-oral-cancer-community-smartphone-ai/), [Every routine CT scan checked by AI for early cancer signs, with a tracked follow-up pathway](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-opportunistic-ct-ai-registry/), [Glucose monitor data as an early pancreatic cancer signal](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-cgm-glycaemic-drift-pancreas/), [Lung screening eligibility by risk score, not pack-years, including high-risk never-smokers](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-lung-screening-risk-model-eligibility/), [Make a two-minute mouth cancer check part of every dental visit](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-dental-oral-exam-standard/), [Mandatory interval-cancer audit for every blood-based screening test](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-interval-cancer-audit-blood-tests/), [Multi-cancer blood test as the first step for patients with non-specific symptoms](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-mced-non-specific-symptom-triage/), [New diabetes after 50 plus weight loss triggers a pancreatic cancer check](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-new-onset-diabetes-pancreas-pathway/), [Offer the blood test for bowel cancer only to people who refuse stool tests or colonoscopy](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-blood-crc-test-for-non-responders/), [Personalised stool-test cut-offs by age, sex and prior results](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-fit-risk-adapted-thresholds/), [Pre-agreed update rules so an MCED test is not obsolete when its trial reads out](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-mced-change-control-plan/), [Registry-based randomised MCED trial: a million people, no study visits](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-mced-registry-randomised/), [Replace six-monthly ultrasound with a blood test for liver cancer in cirrhosis](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-hcc-blood-surveillance-cirrhosis/), [Roll out AI-supported mammography nationally as a stepped-wedge trial](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-mammography-ai-stepped-wedge/), [Smart scales and health records flag unexplained weight loss for a cancer check](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-weight-loss-auto-alert/), [Stomach cancer serology screening for high-risk migrant communities in low-incidence countries](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-gastric-serology-migrant-screening/), [Take lung screening scanners to supermarket car parks in the poorest areas](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-mobile-lung-screening-deprived-areas/), [Use the trend in routine blood counts, not a single threshold, to spot cancer](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-blood-count-trend-flags/)
- journals: [Science](https://onco.cc/journals/science/)

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