Must Have Cancer Screenings

Cancer Screening You Need

Cancer is a word that strikes our hearts with fear. Many people fear the word so much that they delay cancer screenings, or the signs and symptoms of cancer, because they fear the diagnosis.

Prevention is the best cure for cancer, and when prevention fails then early detection is your best option for beating this disease into submission. In order to detect a cancer you must be on the lookout for it, and that means talking to your healthcare professional about your risks for certain types of cancer, and having screenings to detect the disease in its early stages.

Pap Smears

Pap smears can detect cervical cancers in women. Pap smears are recommended as yearly well woman exams. One in five women reported that they do not go have their pap smears each year like the Center for Disease Control recommends.

Women between the ages of twenty one and sixty five are encouraged to have this test done every three years. If the pap smear is being done in conjunction with an HPV test the time lapse between tests should be no more than twelve months.

Mammograms

Mammograms are a useful tool in the battle against breast cancer. Breast cancer is not a female only disease. Two in every five women between the ages of fifty and seventy four reported that they failed to have their regular mammogram screening for possible breast cancer. Mammograms, when performed yearly, can help you detect breast cancer while it is still in its early stages.

Mammograms are recommended yearly for people between the ages f forty and forty nine. Women who are at a higher than average risk of developing breast cancer due to family history, or medical history, may be required to begin having the test done at an earlier age.

Colonoscopies

Colonoscopies can detect colon and rectal cancers. Almost half of the people between the ages of fifty and seventy five who are recommended to have a colonoscopy to check for cancer of the colon report that they do not have the test performed.

People under the age of fifty do not receive these screenings unless their doctor feels that their risk for development of these cancers is greater than normal, or they show signs of the cancer.

People between the ages of fifty and seventy five should have this t4est performed once every ten years, except for African Americans and they should get the screening done starting at the age of forty five.

A sigmoidoscopy is an alternative test that can be performed to detect colon/rectal cancers. This test should be performed every five years on people between the ages of fifty and seventy five. Except for African Americans who should begin having the test at the age of forty five.

A fecal occult blood test is a less invasive test that can help to detect colon cancer, or the need for a colonoscopy. This test should be performed each year on people between the ages of fifty and seventy five. Except for African Americans who should begin to have the test done each year at the age of forty five.