Head and neck cancer screening and early detection
What is cancer screening, and why’s it so important?
“Screening” means going through tests or exams to find a disease such as cancer—even
though you may not have any symptoms. “Early detection” means being able to diagnose
cancer at an early stage. Using early screening exams for early cancer
detection is important because these exams can find a tumor before it causes symptoms.
Researchers are still trying to figure out why some people are more likely to get
certain types of cancer, and what roles the things we do play in our cancer risk.
It’s good to remember that, just because your healthcare team thinks you should
be screened for cancer, they don’t necessarily think you have cancer already.
If a screening test comes back with an abnormal result, your doctors may recommend
more tests to find out if you have cancer. These are called “diagnostic tests.”
Find out how head and neck cancer is diagnosed