Improved understanding of carcinogenesis has allowed cancer prevention and early detection (also known as cancer control) to expand beyond the identification and avoidance of carcinogens. Specific interventions to prevent cancer in those at risk, and more sensitive and specific screening for early detection of cancer are the goals. Carcinogenesis is not simply an event but a process, a continuum of discrete cellular changes over time resulting in more autonomous cellular processes. Prevention concerns the identification and manipulation of the genetic, biologic, and environmental factors in the causal pathway of cancer. .
