Screening means having a test that looks for cancer or another disease in people who don’t have any symptoms. Some screening tests can find growths and remove them before they have a chance to turn into cancer. Other screening tests can find cancer early when it's small, hasn't spread, and might be easier to treat.
The benefits of screening tests should be weighed against any risks of the tests themselves. Risks may include anxiety, pain, bleeding, or other side effects. And screening isn’t perfect. Sometimes screening misses cancer. And sometimes it finds something suspicious that turns out to be harmless (called a false-positive), but still needs to be checked out through additional tests that also carry risks and may cause more stress.
This is why the American Cancer Society uses a formal process to review scientific evidence to create guidelines for cancer screening. The guidelines advise people about what screening tests they should get, when they should get them, and how frequently the tests should be done. The higher a person’s risk for cancer – due to age, family history, or other factors – the more likely the benefits of screening will outweigh the risks.
The American Cancer Society’s guidelines for average-risk adults recommend regular screening for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and colorectal cancer, based on scientific evidence that shows those screenings may help save lives.
Weighing the benefits and risks of screening for prostate cancer and lung cancer is more complicated because other individual factors are involved. Therefore, we recommend people become informed and talk with their doctor regularly to make the screening decisions that are best for them. For many other cancer types, researchers continue to conduct studies to learn the best ways to find cancer before symptoms appear.
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
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