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Biomedical subjects

A K Bahn

Publications and source records attributed to A K Bahn.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1977

Ethical issues in investigation of screening strategies.

Screening programs can be designed to be useful for data collection to study effectiveness of screening. High-risk populations may be identified, and screening techniques applied to a randomly selected subgroup with another subgroup serving as controls. This raises the ethical question of not applying helpful surveillance to individuals known to be at high-risk. Attention should be paid to management of controls, for example, to screen them less frequently, or at least to inform them of their increased risk and advise periodic exams. Against such recommendations is that differences between test and control groups would be minimized and the study less conclusive. Another approach is to use adaptive design, selecting the study group for a large population which is being subject to medical surveillance for some other reason. As in other clinical trails, studies of screening programs must include appropriate surveillance for controls to properly safeguard their rights and medical needs.

Control Groups↗
PubMed1976

Population cancer screening.

Controlled trials to evaluate mass screening programs for cancer detection have been singularly lacking. High cost, lack of medical manpower, and low yield have contributed to this problem. A new program in cancer detection (CANSCREEN) has been developed jointly by The Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and the Preventive Medicine Institute in New York City. This program attempts to provide a quality cancer-detection examination with increased cost effectiveness. Features include: 1) a self-administered questionnaire on medical history, symptoms, and risk factors; 2) nonphysican examiners; 3) risk-facotr analysis with a predetermined decision logic to determine type and periodicity of examination; and 4) primary intervention (health education). This collaborative program between two institutions in two cities demonstrates the feasibility of introducing similar programs elsewhere. A data base shared by cooperating centers permits information on all patients to be used for evaluation of new techniques, end results, etc. A randomized controlled trial has been designed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the questionnaire alone and of the questionnaire and examination.

Breast Neoplasms↗