Routine Cancer Screening – Is it Necessary?

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Cancer has been spreading like wildfire in the last decade and so as more and more individuals are becoming a victim. If they are lucky, they will be able to catch it at an earlier stage in life, but most aren’t as lucky as others.

There are countless of people around the world that are living their lives unaware of the fact that a dangerous disease is thriving inside their body.

As there is a wide range of cancers and the causes are still unknown, many of us are constantly at risk, which is why we need to get ahead of the game, and focus on our healthcare and well being.

There are many healthcare services offered to individuals, one of which is screening for cancer. Screening is a process that checks if there are any abnormal cells in your body that might become cancer, or if you already suffer from cancer.

As the test is run on individuals who haven’t been diagnosed with cancer, it is called screening.

There are four stages of cancer, starting from the bottom; the intensity gets worse with each stage, which is why healthcare providers are keen to identify cancer at an early stage, so they can easily take it on.

In addition, cancer is still hard to treat; as there hasn’t been a certain cure yet. In fact, the less tissue damage occur, the better chances a patient can recover.

With the help of screening, your healthcare provider can help identify and treat several types of cancers as cancer doesn’t always cause symptoms that are obvious.

You could just have a mild cough that refuses to go away; or a lump you haven’t noticed yet. Regardless early detection is the key here. The sooner you come in, the better chances you have of survival.

In addition, you must know that cancer spreads like wildfire in the human body. There is no predicting where it might head to next, or how rapidly it might grow, which is why most healthcare provider stress on getting a regular screening test for cancer.

Yes, there are some side effects of getting a screening, but the benefits it offers are far greater. There might be a few side effects of routine cancer screening, but the benefits always outweigh the side effects. The some effects are:

There are a few screening tests that might cause health related issues or bleeding.
There have been times when healthcare providers found false positive results. A false result is when the test suggests that cancer is present, but it really isn’t. This can cause anxiety and stress.

However, before the doctor starts you on any medication, they will run further tests, which is why no physical harm is done.

Some healthcare providers have suggested that screening test can cause overdiagnosis. In other words, the patient could have easily lived a long and healthy life without having to worry about cancer.

But bear in mind, this only occurs to cases when cancer wouldn’t have harmed the patient in their lifetime. Prevention is better than cure. Certainly when cancer is detected in the early stage, more treatment/surgery options are available, which offers a huge advantage to the cancer patients.

In short, there are not enough side-effects in the world that should keep you from going in for a screening. If you are worried, talk to your healthcare providerto understand more before making any decision. I’m sure it will be able to answer all the questions you have.