Clinical Examinations and Screening Tests During your yearly physical examination, your physician should examine various cancer-prone organs such as the skin, oral cavity, prostate, lymph nodes , thyroid, testes, rectum, breasts and ovaries. More involved procedures such as mammography, Pap smears and pelvic examinations should be performed for women. These screening tests are recommended at varying intervals depending on your age, since cancer risk increases with age.
Research studies are still collecting evidence on the benefits of some cancer screening tests, but other procedures have been proven effective at reducing cancer incidence and death.
• The regular use of mammography and clinical breast examination may reduce deaths from breast cancer by 30
percent among women aged 50 and older. Younger women do not appear to benefit from mammography
screening.
• Since the Pap test became widely used, the incidence of cervical cancer has fallen dramatically around the world
as more precancerous lesions and early carcinomas have been found.
There are a few newcomers to the cancer-screening arsenal.
• A blood test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) may be useful in the early detection of prostate cancer.
• Prostatic (transrectal) ultrasound , a rectal probe that emits ultrasonic waves to make an image of the prostate,
is being investigated as another strategy for detecting malignancy early, often in combination with the PSA test.
The specificity and sensitivity of transrectal ultrasound are higher than for a digital rectal examination, the
current screening recommendation. The combination of digital rectal examination, PSA and transrectal
ultrasound may work best to detect prostate cancer.
