Many cancers that affect us are preventable. We have already talked about how obesity and a sedentary lifestyle can make us prone to cancer. These are some lifestyle factors we need to change to prevent cancer. Screening for cancer is another way we have for protection against some forms of cancer.
Cancer screening refers to performing a test or examination on a person before any symptoms or signs develop. Screening gives us a chance to discover cancer in an early stage when treatment is easy. So obviously screening is done on a normal-appearing population with no signs and symptoms. What is the goal of screening? The purpose of screening is to find the people who are at higher risk of having cancer. To do screening, we perform tests. But, A positive screening test does not necessarily mean that the person HAS cancer but shows that the person MAY have cancer in its early forms.
Which cancers can or should be screened?
We don’t screen for all cancers. Why? Four conditions should be present to make the costs and efforts of screening effective and justifiable. These are:
- The disease burden should be significant. It means that the screening is done for cancers that are common and cause a lot of health problems like morbidity, mortality and financial issues for persons and society.
- The natural history of the disease should be such that a clear, detectable preclinical phase exists, and the behaviour of the disease should be clear to us.
- A suitable screening test should be available, which is safe and cost-effective.
- It should be well-established that screening makes a real difference and improves the outcome
Screening in general population
Having all this in mind, at the present moment, screening for the following cancers s is recommended for the general population:
- Breast cancer
- Cancer of colon and rectum
- Cervical cancer
Screening in special situations
Lung and prostate cancer may also be screened, but not for everyone. check here for more information about cancer screening guidelines.
These cancers are also among the most common malignancies that we see today, and screening is the most powerful way we have to stop the pain and misery that these cancers bring. We are not desperate victims of many cancers if we take action correctly and on time.
Click on the following picture to learn more about cancer screening in particular and how to combat cancer in general.
