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Do you need cancer screening? What age to start at? What tests are done? 6 charts tell you.
Last time I shared with you the most common health problems of routine physical examination, many friends left messages in the background to ask whether to do cancer screening during physical examination, which tests should be done, and at what age it is better to start doing...
I consulted the guidelines for common cancer screening and treatment of authoritative medical institutions at home and abroad, and summarized 6 tables, which you can compare to see if you need to add a few more cancer screening items to your annual routine physical examination.
Things that must be stated in advance:
1) There are geographical and ethnic differences in cancer risk, and there are differences in domestic and foreign guidelines on some issues, and the content in the table is mainly based on the latest guidelines on the mainland.
2) For the specific screening plan for cancer, the opinions of medical institutions in various places may not be completely consistent, and the advice of the treated doctor shall prevail.
What is Cancer Screening?
Cancer screening is a test before symptoms appear so that certain cancers or precancerous lesions can be detected early, diagnosed and treated early. Ultimately, improve the quality of life and survival rate of cancer patients.
Like lung cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, etc., the incidence and mortality rate in the mainland are among the top ten, there is a large amount of evidence that the early screening and treatment of these cancers can significantly improve the prognosis of patients, breast cancer, cervical cancer, which has a high incidence in women, there have been mature screening and prevention methods.
That is, cancer screening is an early screening for a number of specific cancers in addition to routine physical examinations. The regular physical examination mainly depends on your general health, while cancer screening is more individualized, and will determine whether you need to do it and how often to check it according to your personal situation.
Do a tumor marker test?
It's not that simple.
High levels of tumor markers can be a sign of cancer, but it is difficult for currently used tumor markers to take on the burden of screening alone.
It should be known that cancer screening that can enter clinical applications needs to be sensitive and specific (sensitive to detect cancer and cancer lesions), safety (no obvious side effects), and economical and convenient (can be used for screening a large number of people).
The sensitivity and specificity of tumor markers are not high enough, and it is easy to have false positives (normal people are detected to have elevated levels of tumor markers) or false negatives (cancer patients are not detected), and not all cancers have corresponding tumor markers. Therefore, tumor markers are often used for adjuvant diagnosis, guidance, monitoring and treatment of tumors, but cannot be used alone for cancer screening.
Different cancers, different high-risk groups, of course, the screening methods are different. Below, let's talk about how to do early screening for several common cancers in the mainland.
Early screening for lung cancer
Lung cancer is the malignant tumor with the highest incidence and mortality in China. Most of the lung cancer cases in mainland China are already advanced when they are found.
Evidence at home and abroad shows that low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening of people at high risk of lung cancer can detect lung cancer early, improve prognosis, and reduce lung cancer mortality.
However, lung cancer screening is not a physical examination item that must be added when you reach age.
Current studies only support the benefits of regular screening in high-risk populations outweigh the potential drawbacks, so mainland lung cancer early screening guidelines only recommend regular screening for those at higher risk of lung cancer.
Early screening for colorectal cancer
According to the 2020 Global Cancer Statistics Report, colorectal cancer ranks second among new cancer cases in the country.
Early screening for stomach cancer
Stomach cancer, ranked third in the list of cancer incidence and mortality. Its early screening, like lung cancer, focuses on high-risk groups.
The 5-year survival rate after early gastric cancer treatment can exceed 90%, and even achieve the effect of cure, but the diagnosis and treatment rate of early stomach cancer in mainland China is less than 10%, far lower than 70% in Japan and 50% in South Korea.
*Novel gastric cancer screening scoring system
Early screening for liver cancer
In 2020, the incidence of liver cancer in China ranked fifth, but the mortality rate rushed to the second place.
Identification and hierarchical management of liver cancer risk populations
Early screening for breast cancer
Data from 2020 shows that breast cancer surpasses lung cancer among women in China.
Early screening for cervical cancer
The most important causative factor of cervical cancer is HPV infection, so its screening and prevention are very clear.
Although there is now a vaccine, early screening for cervical cancer is very important for early detection and blocking the development of cancer.
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