Education Categories:

• General Information About Breast Cancer
• Stages of Breast Cancer
• Inflammatory Breast Cancer
• Recurrent Breast Cancer
• Treatment Option Overview
• Treatment Options by Stage
• Treatment Options for Inflammatory Breast Cancer
• Treatment Options for Recurrent Breast Cancer
• Overview of Prevention
• Breast Cancer Prevention
• What is Screening?
• Mammograms
• What is a Mammogram?

SCREENING & TESTING

Category: What is Screening?

What is screening?

Screening is looking for cancer before a person has any symptoms. This can help find cancer at an early stage. When abnormal tissue or cancer is found early, it may be easier to treat. By the time symptoms appear, cancer may have begun to spread.

Scientists are trying to better understand which people are more likely to get certain types of cancer. They also study the things we do and the things around us to see if they cause cancer. This information helps doctors recommend who should be screened for cancer, which screening tests should be used, and how often the tests should be done.

It is important to remember that your doctor does not necessarily think you have cancer if he or she suggests a screening test. Screening tests are given when you have no cancer symptoms.

If a screening test result is abnormal, you may need to have more tests done to find out if you have cancer. These are called diagnostic tests.

Refer to the PDQ summaries on Prevention of Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Treatment for information about prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer.

Acknowledgement given to the National Cancer Institute as originator of the information provided herein, with the NCI web site www.cancer.gov as the source.