Screening for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL)

There is no national screening programme for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in the UK.

What is cancer screening?

Screening means testing people for early stages of a disease. This is before they have any symptoms. For screening to be useful the tests:

• need to be reliable at picking up cancers
• overall must do more good than harm to people taking part
• must be something that people are willing to do

Screening tests are not perfect and have some risks. The screening programme should also be good value for money for the NHS.

Why isn't there a screening programme for ALL?

There is no national screening programme for ALL in the UK at the moment because:

• ALL is rare, so many people would have unnecessary tests

• there isn’t a test that can pick up ALL at an early stage

• the cost of screening would be high

See your GP if you have symptoms and are worried about cancer. They can arrange for you to have blood tests or other tests depending on your symptoms, such as an ultrasound scan. They may refer you to see a specialist.

With rare cancers, it is better to screen people who are thought to be at a higher risk. Talk to your GP if you think you are at a higher than average risk of ALL.

What screening programmes are there in the UK?

There are 3 national screening programmes in the UK:

• Bowel cancer screening is offered to people. The programme sends a testing kit every 2 years to people eligible to take part. The age you start having bowel cancer screening depends on where you live in the UK.

• Breast cancer screening is offered to women, some transgender men and some non-binary people aged 50-70.

• Cervical screening is offered to women, some transgender men and some non-binary people aged 25-64.

Lung cancer screening is being introduced in some parts of the UK. The UK National Screening Committee recommends lung cancer screening for people who have a high risk of lung cancer. It will take a while for screening to be rolled out across all the UK but in parts of England and Wales some people are being invited for a Lung Health Check.

You will only be invited for screening if you are registered with a GP. If you aren’t registered, you can find a local GP on the NHS website.