No one looks forward to a colonoscopy, or the bowel prep that goes with it. But colon screening – testing to look for cancer before symptoms start – helps saves lives.
Ideally, people are tested for colon cancer before they ever experience symptoms. Symptoms usually only appear after the cancer has grown or spread.
During the past few decades, screening has reduced deaths from cervical cancer, as doctors have been able to find cancer early and treat it, or prevent it from ever developing.
A harsh truth about lung cancer is that it doesn’t usually cause symptoms until the cancer is already advanced and not able to be cured. That’s why the idea of screening – looking for lung cancer in people who do not have any symptoms – is appealing.