Screening for Cancer
The good-news stories in medicine are early detection, early intervention - Thomas R. Insel
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With Cancer Screening, Better Safe Than Sorry?
Doctors and medical organizations often advise that past a certain age, older adults can forgo various screening tests for cancer. But many patients, no matter how old or sick they may be, are reluctant to abandon tests they’ve long been told can be lifesaving.
To be sure, among my close circle of septuagenarian friends, none of us have stopped getting annual mammograms, even though I, having previously had breast cancer, am likely to be the only one among them for whom the potential benefit might conceivably outweigh the risks.
I’ve met people with no known risk for colorectal cancer who continue to get colonoscopies well past the age of established recommendations.…
Resources
Cervical, breast, heart, bowel: here’s what women should be getting screened regularly
These checks are advised for women at average risk, but women who have a strong family history of any of these conditions should ask with their GP if they should start screening earlier or seek different types of testing.
We're getting better at screening for cancer, and that could be a problem
Finding out you have cancer is a bell you can’t unring. As doctors increasingly have the tools to find cancers before they actually pose a problem, we’re going to have to start asking ourselves a tough question: is knowing always a good thing?
Older patients are getting screened way too often for cancer
There's a cancer-related epidemic in the United States and it doesn't have to do with cell growth: doctors are unnecessarily screening the elderly for the disease.
The Confounding Commandments Of Cancer Screening
Why do the guidelines seem so contradictory, and how can we make sense of them?
The Downside of Medical Screening
Depending on the disease, getting tested could do more harm than good.
Time for Mammograms to Be a Thing of the Past?
A new study is merely the latest suggesting that mammograms may net more harm than good. With a new "breast-friendly" procedure in the works, perhaps now is the time to put the mammogram out to pasture.
Women, Listen to your body... It might save you!
Heart attack and ovarian cancer no longer need to be such aggressive killers of women. You know yourself better than anyone else. When your body produces warning symptoms, listen to it!
You Should Know About These Cancer Screenings in Case You're at Risk
One of the scariest aspects of cancer: It could lurk inside your body and you’d have no idea. Fortunately, thanks to medical advancements, there are ways to safeguard your health. These are all the cancer screenings you should know about. One unusual test may save your life.
A new blood test can detect eight different cancers in their early stages
Researchers have developed a blood test that can detect the presence of eight common cancers. Called CancerSEEK, the blood test detects tiny amounts of DNA and proteins released into the blood stream from cancer cells. This can then indicate the presence of ovarian, liver, stomach, pancreatic, oesophageal, bowel, lung or breast cancers.
Cancer Screening: Life-Savers or Expensive Luxury?
As health expenditures soar cancer screening has come under scrutiny especially when it comes to mammograms.
Color Genomics Wants To 'Democratize' Your DNA
The new test covers 30 genes, adding melanoma and stomach cancer to the list as well as greatly expanding Color's ability to test risk for pancreatic, prostate and colorectal cancers. "One of the impacts of putting this test on the market is that beyond just the cost difference, I think one of our biggest effects is reducing a lot of the friction and barriers that prevent people from getting tested historically," says Laraki.
Do 45-Year-Olds Really Need Colon Cancer Screening?
A new recommendation says yes. The evidence is more complicated.
Prostate Cancer Screening Needs a Massage!
PSA screening creates more problems than the cancer itself and as a result just about every major organization is no longer recommending routine PSA screening.
Screen Saver?
When it comes to cancer screening, more isn’t always better.
Some Cancer Experts See 'Overdiagnosis,' Question Emphasis on Early Detection
Early detection has long been seen as a powerful weapon in the battle against cancer. But some experts now see it as double-edged sword. While it's clear that early-stage cancers are more treatable than late-stage ones, some leading cancer experts say that zealous screening and advanced diagnostic tools are finding ever-smaller abnormalities in prostate, breast, thyroid and other tissues. Many are being labeled cancer or precancer and treated aggressively, even though they may never have caused harm.
This Device Could Detect Dozens of Cancers with a Single Blood Test
Miroculus could make regular cancer screenings as simple as getting blood drawn.
This Entrepreneur Developed A Test That Diagnosed His Dad With Cancer
Conventional tests had failed to detect his father's prostate cancer—but his "liquid biopsy" technology did.
Too Many Older Patients Get Cancer Screenings
“It generally takes about 10 years to see benefit from cancer screening, at least in terms of a mortality benefit,” Dr. Korenstein said. Yet enthusiasm for cancer screenings runs high among patients and doctors, both of whom tend to overestimate the benefits but underappreciate the risks.
You Have to Gamble on Your Health
When it comes to breast and prostate cancer screening, there are no right answers, just trade-offs.
With Cancer Screening, Better Safe Than Sorry?
Few may realize that ill-advised screening tests come at a price, and not just a monetary one that adds many billions to the nation’s health care bill. Every screening test has a rate of false positive results – misleading indications of a possible cancer that requires additional, usually invasive, testing with its own rate of complications.
23 andMe can now offer prescription-free cancer risk tests
This test is far from definitive: There are thousands of mutations on the BRCA genes alone that can raise a person’s risk of developing cancer, and 23 andMe’s test can only identify three.
4 medical tests that are awkward, embarrassing, and unnecessary
Medical exams can be important, life-saving events. There are numerous screenings that the federal government recommends happen on a regular basis, ranging from tests for sexually transmitted diseases to ones detecting certain cancers. This is not, however, true of every medical test that modern medicine has at its disposal. There are some exams that healthy people simply should not get, tests that research doesn't show to make us any healthier and tests that often involve a decent amount of discomfort. These are four of those tests that doctors and federal recommendations say otherwise healthy patients should not get — and that you probably don't want to get anyway.
ColoGuard
Cologuard is an easy to use, noninvasive colon cancer screening test based on the latest advances in stool DNA science. It can be used by men and women 50 years of age and older who are at average risk for colon cancer. Cologuard finds both cancer and precancer.
Color Genomics
Color analyzes 30 genes—including BRCA1 and BRCA2—to help women and men understand their risk for the most common hereditary cancers, including breast, ovarian, colon, and pancreatic cancer. Complimentary genetic counseling is included.
Syrona Women
Roy and Bell, who met at Cambridge University, say their personal testing kit, Syrona, can be used to identify STDs, endometriosis and cervical cancers. If it takes off, it would alleviate pressure on healthcare services, and potentially save millions of lives - Forbes Women's health startup, Cambridge Grads, looking to make SYRONA synonymous with #femtech #health.
Cancer.org
The following cancer screening guidelines are recommended for those people at average risk for cancer (unless otherwise specified) and without any specific symptoms.
CDC
CDC supports screening for breast, cervical, colorectal (colon), and lung cancers as recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
National Cancer Institute
Some types of cancer can be found before they cause symptoms. Checking for cancer (or for conditions that may lead to cancer) in people who have no symptoms is called screening. Screening can help doctors find and treat some types of cancer early. Generally, cancer treatment is more effective when the disease is found early. However, not all types of cancer have screening tests and some tests are only for people with specific genetic risks.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in disease prevention and evidence-based medicine. The Task Force works to improve the health of all Americans by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services.
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