Screening
Cancer Screening Can Save Lives
What is cancer screening?
Cancer screening involves testing large groups of healthy people
for early signs of certain types of cancer. This can help doctors
find any abnormal changes before you develop symptoms.
Screening tests can help to detect cancer early by picking up
warning signs, but they aren't enough to diagnose the disease by
themselves. If someone gets a positive result in a screening test,
they are usually invited for further diagnostic tests to confirm if
they have cancer.
There are three screening programmes in the UK:
Why screen for cancer?
Screening can detect cancer at an early stage. For most cancers,
early detection means that treatments are easier and have a higher
chance of success.
Some, but not all screening programmes can prevent cancer. The
cervical and bowel cancer screening programmes can detect abnormal
changes before they become a cancer. Treating early changes can
prevent cancer from developing
Why don't we screen for every cancer?
Screening programmes can only be set up for a particular cancer
if we have a reliable enough test for it. For a test to be of
value, it must:
-
reliably detect any cancers or abnormal changes that could lead
to cancer
-
Not cause too many false alarms, by saying that someone has
cancer when they haven't
-
Be acceptable, so that the people who would benefit will
actually come and take the test
-
Not be dangerous to health
-
Be cost-effective
