Screening and Testing for Cancer

So far we have looked at some common facts and information about defining cancer, how cancer affects people, how cancer is most commonly treated, and some ways to prevent the risk of getting cancer. We also know that the number of people around the world with cancer is increasing and a large amount of money, time, and resources is being put in to researching and developing advanced medicines and treatments for all types of cancers. Part of the research and resources on cancer information is being put in to promoting people to regularly get screened and tested for different types of cancer. In this blog post, I am going to talk about what we can all do to live healthy lives and take precautions toward the acquisition of cancer.

The National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health provides some information about cancer screening and testing at www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/screening. The website reports that cancer can be detected before symptoms present themselves, and they define screening as the “checking for cancer (or for conditions that may lead to cancer) in people who have no symptoms.” The reason that cancer and health institutes promote that people see doctors about getting screened for cancer is because screening allows doctors to find and detect cancer before it begins to develop in order to start giving treatments to the patient before the cancer becomes a serious issue. As we know, cancer is uncontrolled growths of abnormal cells in the body, so it can be very beneficial for a person to have a doctor detect the cancer before it grows too large. In general, treatments for cancer such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy are more effective when they are applied to the disease at an early stage in its development.

Different types of cancer require different types of screening and testing to detect. For example, breast cancer is one of the most common cancers found in women and it can be screened through methods of clinical breast examinations where doctors examine the breasts for lumps, by mammography which is the use of low-energy x-rays to examine the breasts, and through other imaging methods. Another very common cancer that is found in men is called prostate cancer and research is still being made on developing a strong method for screening for prostate cancer. However, men can receive specific physical examinations or blood tests from doctors that can help detect the possibility of prostate cancer. Lung cancer is another commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States and it can be screened and tested through chest x-rays and by taking samples of mucus from the lungs through coughing and testing the samples.

Screening and testing researchers and the American Cancer Society advise that getting screened or tested does not necessarily mean that a cancer will be completely eliminated or the risk of death from cancer will go away, but doctors and cancer researchers find that screening and testing for cancer can greatly reduce the growth of a cancer if it is detected early. It is important that we all consider the healthy life practices to know ways to prevent the risks of getting cancer, but we also need to accept that cancer is a common disease that we should regularly check for in our bodies.

References

National Cancer Institute. (2014). Screening and testing to detect cancer. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/cancer/index

American Cancer Society. (2014). Learn about cancer. Retrieved from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/screening