Women Cancer Preventive screening.
Often, I get questions about how to test for cancer. Many believe that there is one easy blood test to determine if you have cancer. There is not. This month we will discuss the screening cancer test that women should do. Will discuss when to start these, how often these should be done and when these can be stopped. We will discuss breast cancer, cervical cancer, colon cancer screenings. Please remember that these recommendations are for average risk NOT HIGH RISK patients.
Cervical Cancer
Statistic Screening for cervical cancer has been available since the middle of the 20th century. Its effectiveness is reflected by the move of cervical cancer from the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women to the rank of 14th.
Reason to test: The goal of cervical cancer screening is the detection of invasive cancer at an early stage as well as to detect preinvasive lesions that can be treated before malignant transformation
Start: Age 21. Test until age 65.
Ending age: The recommendation is discontinuation of screening at 65 years of age for women who have had adequate prior screenings and are not otherwise at high risk for cervical cancer. Adequate prior screening is defined as three consecutive negative cytology results (or two consecutive negative co-testing results) within the past 10 years, with the most recent test occurring within the past 5 years
Interval: Age 21 to 29 every three years with PAP only. Age 30 to 65 years: every 3 years for cytology alone; every 5 years for cytology plus HPV testing. American Cancer Society emphasizes the new screening interval with the statement, “Women at any age should NOT be screened annually by any screening method”
Method: Cytology (Papanicolaou [Pap] testing) remains the primary method for cervical cancer screening. Newer test also include screening for HPV.
Breast Cancer
Statistic: “About 1 in 8 U.S. women (about 12.4%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. In 2018, an estimated 266,120 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 63,960 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer” from Breastcancer. org
Reason to test: detecting cancer at an early stage
Start: Age: 40 year old
Interval: Age 45 to 54 years: Annual mammography (40 to 44 years, optional); Age 55 years and older: Biennial screening (annual optional);
Method: Mammograms. Note that Self breast exam are not as recommended as they were in past but can be used in conjunction with mammograms.
In future articles I will explain other preventive test that should be done for both sexes.
