Random thoughts-Preventive testing and screening

The mind wanders and random thoughts pop up.Some of which need to be shared.

Such as the one I had on Preventive testing and screening for Cancer.Particularly for all men and women above the age of 40. For sometimes that is really the crucial difference between life and death.

So I've looked up the most relevant information that I could find and put it down for you to read.Hoping that it helps in some way.....

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.

Early detection means applying a strategy that results in an earlier diagnosis of cancer than otherwise might have occurred. Screening tests offer the best opportunity to detect most cancers at an early stage when successful treatment is likely.

The change from pre-cancer to cancer usually takes several years - but it can happen in less than a year. For most women, pre-cancerous cells will remain unchanged and go away without any treatment. Still, in some cases pre-cancers turn into true (invasive) cancers.

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 the disease.

According to the National Cancer Institute in the US stastics are as follows :

In 2004, cancers of the breast, prostate, lung, and colon/rectum accounted for more than half of all cancer deaths in the United States. Lung cancer alone claimed more than one-fourth of the lives lost to cancer. It was projected that in 2007 there would be 559,650 cancer deaths overall, including 160,390 deaths from lung cancer; 52,180 from cancers of the colon/rectum; 40,460 from female breast cancer; 33,370 deaths from cancer of the pancreas (replacing prostate cancer as the fourth leading cause) and 27,050 from prostate cancer.

Cancer mortality usually is measured as the annual number of deaths from cancer for every 100,000 people, adjusted to a standard population.

The number of cancer deaths per 100,000 people per year, age-adjusted to a U.S. 2000 standard population.

Period – 1975–2004 -Trends
All sites combined: Death rates increased through 1990, then stabilized until 1993 and fell from 1993 through 2004

Colorectal cancer: Death rates have been falling since 1975

Female breast cancer: Death rates have been falling since 1990

Lung cancer: Death rates have been falling since 1995 due to declines in lung cancer in men

Prostate cancer: Death rates have been falling since 1994

Most Recent Estimates
In 2004, the death rate for all cancers was 185.7 cancer deaths per 100,000 people per year.

Healthy People 2010 TargetReduce the overall cancer death rate to 158.6 cancer deaths per 100,000 people per year by 2010.

Key Issues

Although overall death rates are on the decline, deaths from some cancers, such as esophageal, liver, and thyroid cancers, are increasing.

An ongoing challenge for the United States is to find new and better ways to reduce and eliminate disparities in cancer death rates among different populations of Americans.
And the same applies for all countries and their health sevices.

But what we must do on a personal front, is to take up the gauntlet as well.Simply by getting ourselves screened in time. For something as vital as the possible numbers of years that we may have left...