What is the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial?
The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial is a large-scale clinical trial to determine whether certain cancer screening tests can help reduce deaths from prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian cancer. By using screening tests for cancer, doctors may be able to discover and treat cancers that might otherwise kill a person. Many tests can identify a cancer when it is small, but only a large-scale clinical trial can prove that a test will reduce a person’s chance of dying from the disease. From 1993 to 2001, 154,910 healthy men and women ages 55 to 74 enrolled in the PLCO trial at 10 centers across the United States. The PLCO trial has centers in Birmingham, Ala.; Detroit, Mich.; Denver, Colo.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Marshfield, Wisc.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Salt Lake City, Utah (with a satellite center in Boise, Idaho); St. Louis, Mo.; and Washington, D. C. • What tests did the PLCO participants receive? PLCO trial participants were randomly assi
