Why do people still have cancer even though their physical examination results are normal?
With the increase of public health awareness, medical checkups have become a must-do task for many people every year. Many people believe that passing the physical examination means that there is no health problem and they can rest easy at least for a year. In fact, the tragedy of cancer is still happening – on December 13, 2010, Mr. Ma went to the defendant’s medical examination institution for a health checkup, and the checkup item was a whole body health checkup. In October 2011, Mr. Ma went to Jishuitan Hospital for treatment due to discomfort, and was diagnosed with “stage IV right lung cancer with systemic metastasis “.
Early detection of cancer is crucial, 1/3 of cancers can be cured through early detection and early diagnosis, however, a significant proportion of cancer patients are already in the middle and late stages when they are detected, missing the best time for treatment. People wonder why people still suffer from cancer even though they have normal medical checkups year after year.
1.Health checkup is not equal to cancer prevention checkup
Health checkups are designed to detect health problems, but they usually do not include tumor screening, while cancer checkups are professional tumor screening. Although health checkups can detect some early stage cancer patients, they are easy to “miss” because of the high requirements for both patients and doctors.
Strictly speaking, there is no special cancer checkup, but most of the checkup items are directly or indirectly related to cancer, and they may help to detect cancer. Most of the medical checkups are directly or indirectly related to cancer, and all of them may help to detect cancer. The cancer prevention medical checkups are generally referred to as the process of screening tumors from large to small, which is more targeted compared with the general medical checkups, and the scope is narrowed down step by step after problems are found. Some tumors, such as breast cancer and cervical cancer, can be detected early through regular physical examinations, while some tumors are difficult to be detected through regular physical examinations, such as stomach cancer and lymphoma, which should be targeted and investigated in depth. Cancer checkups are not won by more items, but by targeting.
2.Competition in medical checkup industry is disorderly and quality is difficult to guarantee
Health checkups have formed a huge medical market, attracting a large number of investors to enter, resulting in a mixed market of medical checkups and quality cannot be guaranteed. According to national regulations, the general physical examination to check liver function, blood and other nine items, charging 150 yuan. But the current medical examination content has been constantly updated, much more than nine items, the price is also rising. In some medical environment and service grade higher medical examination center, a full set of content all down, at least cost thousands of dollars. The most private medical checkup center packages are divided into two dozen, there are employee benefits, corporate elite, family, beauty packages, etc.. Charges range from more than 300 to 3,000 yuan.
Industry insiders pointed out that the private medical examination center behind a wide range of packages hidden some secrets. Take the method of physical examination, the test is different, the price of the same physical examination items can be quite different. For example, chest X-ray and chest X-ray, mainly to see whether there are abnormalities in the heart, diaphragm, lungs. But the difference between them is that chest X-ray is long and the radiation damage to the body is much greater than that of chest X-ray. However, a chest X-ray is five to six times more expensive than a chest x-ray. In addition, the grade of the instruments, reagents and test strips used are also very different in order to reduce costs. So what kind of quality is behind the same price, consumers can’t know.
Compared with private medical examination centers, public hospital medical examination department in the medical environment and service is very lacking. Although public hospitals have specialized medical examination departments, but the space is generally not large, the number of people in the medical examination, the various departments scurry, men and women in a door examination, lost blood samples, laboratory tests are often wrong, which makes the medical examiners have doubts about the quality of the examination.
What kind of physical examination can detect cancer?
Breast cancer prevention Annual checkup after 40 years old
It is best for women to have annual breast ultrasound, mammogram or X-ray, and CT or MRI if necessary, to detect abnormalities and seek medical consultation in time. For example, women over 35 years old should have a breast examination every two years, and women over 40 years old should have an examination every one and a half years. Women with family history of breast cancer should pay more attention to daily observation and regular checkups.
Ovarian cancer prevention: check up once every six months after the age of 30
Ovarian cancer does not have any symptoms in the early stage, and only when the tumor grows larger or when comorbidities occur will symptoms such as ascites, wasting and weakness appear. Therefore, it is recommended that women over 30 should have regular medical checkups, preferably with gynecological examination and blood test once every six months and transvaginal color Doppler ultrasonography once a year.
Prevention of cervical cancer Annual cervical smear after 35 years old
Women with early marriage, early childbirth, multiple births and disrupted sexual life are all at high risk of cervical cancer. Cervical smear is one of the effective means to screen for cervical cancer. It is recommended for women to have cervical smear once a year after the age of 35. If there is no problem for 3 consecutive years, the examination can be extended to once every one and a half to two years.
Lung cancer prevention Long-term cough should also be checked
If you have the following conditions, you should go to a specialized hospital for examination as soon as possible: long-term, chronic and unusual frequent coughing; repeated coughing of sputum with blood or even bright red color in the sputum; unintentional finding of pain in a certain area, such as chest pain.
Preventing liver cancer and liver disease patients should be examined once every six months
Liver cancer is often asymptomatic in the early stage, and the condition is already serious when patients present symptoms to the hospital. It is recommended that hepatitis B and C patients and long-term alcohol drinkers should be regularly screened for liver cancer through ultrasound and tumor marker tests. Normal people can be screened for liver cancer through abdominal ultrasound and chest X-ray once a year; patients with hepatitis B, C and cirrhosis should be screened once every six months.
Prevention of stomach cancer Gastroscopy every three to two years
Stomach cancer may not have any symptoms in the early stage, so it is often overlooked. Many patients already have upper abdominal pain, upper abdominal fullness or loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, difficulty in eating, abdominal mass, vomiting blood or black stool when they visit the doctor. Experts remind that even if there are no symptoms of stomach cancer, people over 40 years old should have gastroscopy every two to three years.
Prevention of colorectal cancer: Seek medical attention for bleeding stools
If there are symptoms such as increased or irregular stool frequency, blood and stool mixed together and more bleeding, abdominal pain, etc., it is better to go to a regular hospital to investigate whether it is colorectal cancer. People above middle age should have regular colonoscopy every year. You should not give up the anal finger examination because of embarrassment and other reasons during physical examination.
Prevention of lymphoma People over 40 years old should be aware of
The peak age of lymphoma incidence is between 40 and 50 years old. If you have swollen lymph nodes or recurrent fever, itchy skin, cough, chest tightness, abdominal distension, abdominal pain, etc., you should go to hospital for examination in time if you find the above symptoms. If there is unexplained prolonged fever, night sweats and weight loss, you should also go to the hospital as soon as possible. Men should pay special attention to signs of lung, stomach, esophagus, liver, colon and pancreatic cancers; women should check for breast, cervical and ovarian cancers.