# What's the best way to screen for cancer?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-screen-for-cancer/570890>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 10, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-screen-for-cancer/570890 "2011-02-10T14:21:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-screen-for-cancer/570890/1 "2011-02-10T14:21:54Z")

</div>

Not looking for medical advice, as I couldn’t afford it anyway 🙂

I hate cancer, and I’ve had lots of people in my family get sick and/or die from cancer. I would love to be able to have a once a year full cancer screening that goes beyond just a pap smear and skin check. What could I do to put together the Ultimate Cancer Screening?

Here’s what I was thinking:

1. Yearly skin check by a dermatologist
2. Yearly pap smear/prostate check (depending on gender, obviously)
3. Electron beam tomogrophy? Does those do any good? I have heard that they uncover all sorts of little things that are nothing, and require useless further tests.
4. Brain scan? Is once a year too much radiation?
5. Blood tests? What can they detect?

Really, the point would be to catch the cancers that start with too little symptoms, and then balloon into a deadly cancer - and by the time you know something is wrong, it’s too late.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-screen-for-cancer/570890/2 "2011-02-10T14:58:31Z")

</div>

[This site](http://www.mdanderson.org/patient-and-cancer-information/cancer-information/cancer-topics/prevention-and-screening/index.html) has some extremely detailed suggestions for preventing & detecting cancer.

Do check with your doctor. Your personal & family medical histories should be considered.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-screen-for-cancer/570890/3 "2011-02-10T15:55:42Z")

</div>

If you’re over 50, a colonoscopy every five years.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-screen-for-cancer/570890/4 "2011-02-10T16:48:07Z")

</div>

> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> If you’re over 50, a colonoscopy every five years.

Not sure that’s the current recommendation in the US (I think the default after 50 is every 10 years, assuming no problems / family history). I know that my brother was told “7, not 10” after hearing that I’d had a precancerous polyp show up on my screening scope.

Brain scan / tomography: I would think that unless there was a strong reason to suspect an issue, no reputable doctor would order such a thing for precisely the reasons you suggest: the radiation exposure itself has risks, and you’d get a lot of false positives.

Blood tests can detect markers for things like prostate / ovarian cancer and can also test for genetic predisposition to some cancers (breast for sure, maybe others).