Through early detection, screening can make cancers easier to treat and help reduce cancer deaths. Cancer screening is done when you have no symptoms. Symptoms mean that cancer may have grown, spread, and be harder to treat.
Cancer screening includes:
• Physical exam and history. A physical exam can check for lumps or anything that seems unusual. A history of your health habits, past illnesses, and treatments can also gauge your risk.
• Laboratory tests. Procedures can include taking samples of tissue, blood, urine, or other bodily substances.
• Imaging procedures. Computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, and other machines scan areas inside the body for anything unusual.
• Genetic tests. Cells or tissue are analyzed to look for changes in genes or chromosomes, which may indicate a specific disease or risk.
Tests include mammography for breast cancer, Pap test for cervical cancer, colonoscopy for colorectal cancer, low-dose CT scan for lung cancer, PSA test for prostate cancer, and more. Additional tests may occur if a result is abnormal. For example, a screening mammogram may find a breast lump, but a diagnostic test like a biopsy will tell whether that lump is cancer. A test recommendation by your health care provider doesn’t necessarily mean cancer is suspected. Some procedures have risks as well as benefits, so talk to your doctor to see what’s right for you.
What Puts You at Risk for Cancer?
According to the National Cancer Institute, the most-studied known or suspected factors for cancer risk are:
• Advancing age (the most important risk factor for cancer overall and for many cancer types)
• Alcohol consumption (mouth, throat, esophagus, larynx, liver, and breast cancer risk)
• Environmental exposures to cancer-causing substances
• Chronic inflammation through cancer-associated DNA damage
• Certain foods, like red and processed meat (colorectal cancer risk)
• Hormone exposure for a long time and/or to high levels of estrogen and progesterone (breast cancer risk)
• Immunosuppressive diseases like HIV/AIDS, and drugs that suppress the immune system
• Infectious agents like some viruses, bacteria, and parasites
• Obesity (breast in post-menopausal women, colon, rectum, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, and gallbladder cancer risk)
• Ionizing radiation, including radon, X-rays, gamma rays, and other forms of high-energy radiation, through cancer-associated DNA damage
• Sunlight and exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation (skin cancer risk)
• Tobacco use, linked to the development of 17 different types of cancer in addition to lung cancer
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