Cancer screening examinations are medical tests performed when you don’t have any symptoms - when you’re healthy. Cancer screening exams help to ensure that any existing cancers are identified at their earliest, most treatable, stages.
Cancer screening examinations are recommended for all adults. Take time to discuss your own cancer risks with your health care provider, who can best advise you on the screening exams and risk reduction strategies that are right for you.
Breast
- Be familiar with your breasts so that you will notice any changes and report them to your doctor without delay. Breast self-exams are an option for increasing breast awareness.
- Begin annual mammograms and clinical breast exams at age 40
- Clinical breast exam every one to three years from age 20 to 39
- Try to schedule clinical breast exam at the time of regularly scheduled mammogram
- For women at increased risk of breast cancer, screening may begin earlier and/or may be required more frequently
Cervical
- Annual Pap test with pelvic exam beginning at age 18, or when sexual activity begins
- Depending on risk factors, after three or more consecutive exams with normal findings, a physician and patient may choose to do them less frequently
- Ask your doctor about screening after hysterectomy. Healthy women with normal Pap smears and whose hysterectomy was for benign disease may be screened less frequently than annually
Colorectal
- Beginning at age 50, men and women should follow one of the examination schedules below:
- A colonoscopy every 10 years (preferred by M. D. Anderson)
- A fecal occult blood test (FOBT) every year
- A flexible sigmoidoscopy (FSIG) every five years
- Annual FOBT and FSIG every five years. This combination is preferred over either annual FOBT or FSIG every five years, alone
- A double-contrast barium enema every five years
- People at moderate or high risk for colorectal cancer (e.g., a strong family history) should talk with their doctor about the need for a different testing schedule
Endometrial
- Screening is not recommended for most women
- For women with hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer, annual endometrial biopsy is recommended beginning at age 35
Ovarian
- Benefits of screening for women at average risk have not yet been proven, and screening is therefore not recommended
- For women with a hereditary ovarian cancer syndrome, annual or semi-annual pelvic exam, CA 125 blood test and transvaginal ultrasound may be considered on the advice of their personal physician
Prostate
- Men should be counseled about the risks and benefits of prostate cancer screening
- Annual digital rectal exam beginning at age 50
- Annual prostate-specific antigen blood test beginning at age 50
- Begin screening at age 45 for men at increased risk (African-American men, men with a family history of prostate cancer)
- Screening is not recommended for men with a life expectancy of less than 10 years
Skin
- Monthly self-exam beginning at age 18