A Pitch for Cancer Screening

By: Anthony Robniak, MD

With age comes wisdom. Many adults can quickly observe when they are feeling under the weather. This helps identify diseases like the common cold that are diagnosed in large part through characteristic symptoms. Other diseases like cancer brood long before symptoms arise. Let’s round the bases for cancer screening awareness.

First: How does cancer cause symptoms?

The human body is made of cells that normally grow and die. Cancer refers to diseases of abnormal cell growth. These abnormally growing cells eventually push on nearby stuff or clog up pathways and disrupt normal bodily functions. This results in symptoms. It is important to emphasize that abnormal cell growth happens first. The disruption to bodily function, and the symptoms that result, happen sometime after the cancer begins.

Second: Why not just cut out cancer when it appears?

Surgical removal of cancerous growth is part of the recommended treatment for early forms of cancer. However, many cancers grow deep to the visible surface of the body. Furthermore, cancerous cells can fall off the original site of abnormal growth, travel through vessels, and seed far away. This process is called metastasis. If a cancer has metastasized to many distant sites before it is discovered, surgical removal of all cancerous cells from the body is essentially impossible.

Third: Why is my doctor recommending all these different cancer screenings?

Your doctor may be trying to catch cancer before it grows large and metastasizes. Generally, there are more options for treatment, and a higher likelihood of eradicating all cancerous cells, the earlier a cancer is discovered.

Home: We all die sometime, right?

This is a common thought during the conversation around cancer. It seems to serve death itself while denying the moments leading up to it. I wonder if it’s a way to deny painful thoughts and feelings experienced while having watched others decline before passing away from cancer. Your cancer screening may produce wonderful or heart wrenching news for you. Either way, your screen is an opportunity to reflect with courageous resolution on your experience with cancer and role model for the loved ones behind you.

That’s the ball game: What should I do next?

Ask your primary care doctor what cancer screening is right for you. Different cancer screening is recommended based on age, sex assigned at birth, and lifestyle. Some cancer screening occurs once in the lifetime, and others occur multiple times at regular intervals. Attend primary care appointments either annually or otherwise so your provider can help you stay up to date on your recommended cancer screening.

Anthony Robniak, MD, is a first-year internal medicine resident at UNC Health Southeastern. In addition to offering services you’d expect from a community healthcare system, UNC Health Southeastern provides a number of specialized services that are unique to our system and not available anywhere else in the region. To schedule an appointment, call our referral line at 984-974-CARE. To learn more, visit UNCHealthSE.org.