14 Essential Cancer Screening Tests for Women: Early Detection in the Philippines

Cancer screening in the Philippines is a highly recommended procedure that should be done once you fall under a certain age. This is to check if there are abnormalities or significant changes in your body that should be brought to your attention, especially if these changes point to the possibility of having cancer which according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), is one of the leading causes of death for Filipinos nationwide, causing the disease to be recognized as a serious public health concern.

In the case of women, there are several types of cancer that they may unknowingly develop due to family history with cancer, gene mutations, lifestyle choices, radiation exposure, and other similar factors.

However, despite this, only a few women go out of their way to get themselves screened for cancer, with 540,000 women out of 54 million doing so. This raises the need for awareness when it comes to the significance of regular cancer screenings, as well as what advantages can early cancer detection tests bring to one’s well-being.

What is the Difference Between Cancer Screening and Cancer Diagnosis

There’s a misconception between getting screened for cancer and being diagnosed with cancer. For most, they may view the two things as the same — but they are not. Cancer screening deals with finding abnormal tissues that may be linked to having cancer, while a cancer diagnosis is an official confirmation that the presence of cancer is already there.

It’s essential that we know the difference between the two to avoid unnecessary panic and for us to be further informed about the next steps we ought to take after partaking in the process of getting screened or being told by your doctor that you are now diagnosed with the disease.

Usually, after having yourself screened for cancer, you may be recommended to do more tests in order to reach a definite diagnosis about your health condition. An example of a diagnostic procedure that you may be asked to do after getting screened with signs of cancer is a biopsy wherein they take a sample of your cell or tissue to check if you indeed have cancer.

Therefore, rather than cancer screening and cancer diagnosis being the same — they work hand in hand in identifying whether you have the mentioned disease or not.

What is the Importance of Regular Cancer Screenings

The goal of cancer screening is to look for any signs of cancer in the body before the symptoms begin to appear. As cancer screenings can aid in early detection, which in turn can lead to a more successful treatment, it’s encouraged that those who are at high risk of having cancer should take initiative in being screened for it.

And this means not being screened only once in your life and never doing it again. Depending on the type of cancer you may be at risk of developing, as well as your age, you may need to regularly undergo cancer screenings to make sure that there are no concerning changes in your body that can be pointed to having cancer.

The typical interval before you may be asked to undergo screening again is 1 to 10 years. Of course, the specifics of this is based on the type of cancer you are targeting and what your healthcare provider suggests.

What are the Benefits of Early Cancer Detection

There are several benefits that come along in the early detection of cancer, namely:

- Faster recovery: Since the disease will be identified before it’s in advanced stages, doctors can prescribe the corresponding treatment that would lead to its faster recovery.

Prevents the further spread of cancer cells: Certain types of cancer are known to spread quickly in the body. With early cancer detection, having the right treatments can stop cancer cells from spreading to other organs and worsening your condition.

Better chances of survival: Particularly if we’re talking about long-term survival, having the opportunity of treating cancer before it can significantly bring harm to your body is important. Most of the time, cancer is detected when it’s already in its advanced stages, meaning this would be harder to treat or possibly cure.
Less treatment, less cost: Naturally, when there are less treatments to do since the cancer is not that bad yet or not has spread to other parts of the body, then the cost in spending for treatments lessens as well. This is beneficial for those who are struggling with their other expenses and who don;t have the financial capabilities of sustaining cancer treatments.

What to Consider Before Getting Screened for Cancer

Now that you’re aware of cancer screening and the good it can contribute to your health, you should also know what other factors you should think about before making an appointment to have yourself screened for cancer. This is to ensure that you’ll be 100% comfortable with what you’ll be undergoing and that you can prepare for it accordingly for a better experience.

Risks and Disadvantages

Like any other procedure, there can be risks involved in getting screened for cancer. In some cases, it’s been said that the cons may outweigh the pros, hence other people’s reluctance in being screened for the disease. However, your doctor may recommend for you to undergo it if they see that it will bring more good than bad.

Some risks and disadvantages that involves cancer screening are:

False-positive test results: There may be instances wherein a screening shows that a person has signs of cancer even though they do not have it.
False-negative test results: There is also a chance that screening results may indicate that a person does not have signs of cancer, but the disease is actually present.
Some tests may lead to more procedures, which may be harmful: If a screening comes out positive, there’s a high likelihood that you may be asked to do a couple of more diagnostic procedures to make sure that you really do have the disease. These procedures may be risky for your health, and doesn’t even guarantee that a confirmed diagnosis will come out after.
Overdiagnosis may occur: This is when a disease is diagnosed, but the said disease is not that relevant or doesn’t pose a serious concern. Hence, diagnosing a disease that wouldn’t be of concern would only cause unnecessarily worries to the patient about their health condition even though it doesn’t significantly threaten their well-being. In this scenario, there are some cancers that may never cause problems or require treatment, which leads to its discovery irrelevant.

Scheduling and Precautions

For certain screening tests, it involves getting samples and/or examining parts of your body such as the breast, cervix, vulva, etc. And for women who regularly get their periods, it’s best to schedule your screening appointment during a time wherein it wouldn’t be a problem to partake in these tests.

Make sure that your body is in good condition before being screened. Have a thorough conversation with your doctor too about the tests you’ll have to do so you’ll know what you’ll be doing and can prepare accordingly.

There are tests that require you to fast for a few hours, to stop taking medications for the meanwhile, and to temporarily alter your diet for an easier screening process.

What are the 14 Screening Tests You Can Do for Early Cancer Detection

There are various screening procedures that one can do as an early cancer detection test. It all comes down to what kind of cancer you are more susceptible to having — based on your family history, lifestyle, age, etc. — and what would be safe or appropriate for your current well-being.

Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines

Health professionals typically recommend 40 years old as the starting age for breast cancer screening. From that point forward, women should be screened every two (2) years.

Keep in mind that you may be discouraged to do the following breast cancer screening procedures if you are/have:

Pregnant
Actively breastfeeding
An extremely dense breast tissue
An acute illness
Had a surgery recently

Mammogram

This involves taking an x-ray of the breast, usually two x-rays for each breast. This screening procedure may detect abnormal cells in the breast duct and is done by pressing the breast between two plates.

There are four types of mammograms:

Screen-film mammography (SFM): X-ray picture of the breast
Digital mammography (DM): Computer picture of the breast
Synthetic 2-dimensional mammography (S2D): Pictures of the breast from two angles, usually from top to bottom and side to side.
Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT): Newer type of mammogram. The way this works is that a machine takes several x-rays of your breast, arcing over it and letting your doctor see your breast tissues in 3D.

Before doing this exam, don’t wear any deodorants, lotions, powders, cream, and perfume under your arm or along the area of your breast.

Breast exams

This is when you or a healthcare professional examine and feel your breasts, checking if there is anything different or would be of significant concern.

Since it’s an easy way of examining your breasts, doctors recommended doing it every month so that you can be familiarized with your own breast and take notice of anything unusual without difficulty.

You can do this cancer screening at home via self-exam. Even though it’s advised to do self-exams for familiarity purposes, this doesn’t mean you should skip visiting a doctor to have yourself professionally checked.

For women who still have their periods, it’s suggested to do a breast exam after your period is done.

Breast MRI

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a procedure that involves the use of magnets and radio waves to get a detailed image of organs and structures inside the body — and in this case, the breast.

A dye (gadolinium) may be injected to the vein for radiologists to see your breast tissues or blood vessels in a clearer manner.

It is advised that for women who still regularly have their periods, they should schedule a breast MRI appointment around 5 to 15 days of your menstrual cycle. Talk to your doctor about this so they can set the best time for you to do this exam.

Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines

Screening for cervical cancer is recommended for women as early as the age of 21 and should be done every three (3) years. However, for those aged 30 and above, it is more appropriate for them to to be screened every five years

You may be encouraged to have frequent cervical cancer screening procedures if you are/have:

Weak immune system
HIV positive
Been exposed to diethylstilbestrol (DES) before birth
Had cervical cancer before
Had a recent abnormal cervical biopsy result

Pap smear

Sometimes referred to as a pap test or cervical cytology, this test involves taking cervical cells by using a medical device called a speculum to gently open your vagina and in order to see the cervix, where they will use a soft brush or a small spatula to get a sample of cells from this organ.

Do refrain from doing the following two days prior before getting yourself screened with this procedure:

Having vaginal sex
Using tampons, vaginal creams, birth control foams, birth control jellies, and lubricants

It’s also best to do this test at the end of your period or when you don’t currently have it so that it won’t interfere with the results.

HPV testing

This type of testing is usually done alongside a pap smear. It has the same process as the said procedure, but instead of the cervix cells being only checked if they are normal, an HPV test checks if the presence of human papillomavirus is there that can potentially lead cells to change over time.

Ovarian Cancer Screening Guidelines

There isn’t a specific age in which a woman is asked to start screening for ovarian cancer, and in general, getting screened for it is not recommended by doctors unless you begin to show some symptoms or you have a family history of having the disease.

Nonetheless, it has been observed that ovarian cancer usually affects older women, particularly those who are postmenopausal.

Transvaginal Ultrasound (TVUS)

This is a procedure that involves putting an ultrasound wand (transducer) inside the vagina and using soundwaves to see the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries.

Doing this would help in seeing a tumor inside the ovary — however, it’s worth noting that whether this tumor is cancerous or not, a TVUS won’t be able to identify it, hence you may need to do another procedure to confirm if it’s cancerous.

Prior to your appointment for this test, your doctor may suggest that you arrive with a bladder that is either empty, full, or half-empty. This is because your bladder can impact how your organs may look via ultrasound. It is also okay to do this test regardless if you’re on your period or not.

CA-125 blood test

This is mostly recommended for women who are considered to be of high risk in developing ovarian cancer. It is meant to measure the protein CA-125 in the blood, since women who have ovarian cancer typically have high levels of CA-125.

However, despite it, there have also been scenarios wherein those with ovarian cancer do not have high levels of CA-125, therefore making this test not 100% reliable. Not to mention that oftentimes, high CA-125 levels are more associated with other health conditions like endometriosis and pelvic inflammatory disease.

Colorectal Cancer Screening Guidelines

Individuals who are aged 45 years old and above are advised to be screened for colorectal cancer. The usual interval is 5 or 10 years, although it’s best to talk to your healthcare provider regarding this since it also depends on your current well-being when the next screening would be optimal for your health.

Take note that you may be prevented from doing the following colorectal cancer screening procedures if you are/have:

Serious inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, etc.)
Had a recent surgery in the small or large intestines
Had severe intestinal obstruction

Colonoscopy & Virtual Colonoscopy

A colonoscopy is a procedure that involves looking through the insides of your large intestine that covers the colon, rectum and anus. A thin and flexible tube that has a camera and light called an endoscope is used to navigate your colon, entering through anus and sending pictures of how your large intestine looks from the inside to the screen it’s connected to.

On the other hand, a virtual colonoscopy — or sometimes referred to as a computerized tomography (CT) colonography — is a type of CT scan that works by taking several x-rays of your colon in multiple different angles. Afterwards, the x-rays are converted into 3D images of your colon’s insides.

These two will help the doctor in finding any small growths or any abnormal areas in the colon and rectum.

Before doing this test, your doctor may require you to:

Have a low-fiber diet three or two days prior to your appointment
Have an exclusive all liquid diet on the day before
Take a laxative to stimulate bowel movement and have you release any fecal matter the afternoon or evening before your exam

These measures are essential so that images taken from your colonoscopy will be clear and don’t have any obstructions.

Sigmoidoscopy

Similar to a colonoscopy, this procedure involves an endoscope to examine your large intestine and to check if there are any small growths or any abnormal areas — only this time, it focuses more on its lower part (sigmoid colon and may extend even to the descending colon).

Therefore, it may also be necessary for you to have a low-fiber diet three to two days prior to your examination, an exclusive all liquid diet the day before, and to take a laxative the night before you’re scheduled for your test.

Stool tests

This is a test that involves taking a sample of your stool to see if there are blood or genetic mutations that could be pointed to colorectal cancer.

There are three types of stool tests for the mentioned disease:

Guaiac-based fecal occult blood test (gFOBT): Uses the chemical guaiac to identify blood in your stool.
Fecal immunochemical test (FIT): Utilizes antibodies to identify blood in your stool.
FIT-DNA test: This combines FIT and another test that uses altered DNA to test the stool.

For gFOBT and FIT, you can do them annually while for FIT-DNA, every three years is the recommended interval.

Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines

By the age of 50 years old, those who have a history with smoking or are currently still smoking are encouraged to be screened for lung cancer. It is also recommended to be done yearly, until the individual has turned 81 years old (in which it is highly unlikely that they’ll develop the disease) or it is stated that the patient won’t be benefitting from the screening anymore.

Low-dose helical computed tomography (LDCT)

This procedure involves taking pictures of the inside of your chest to see if there are any small masses in your lungs that could be linked to cancer.

To do this, you will be subjected to a CT scanner, a scanning machine that resembles a tube. From there, you’ll be:

Asked to remove any jewelry or any metallic object attached to your body
Lie on a be
Brought to the scanning machine where the scanner will rotate around your body as it takes pictures (sometimes even moving the bed you’re lying on forward and backward).

What are Other Screening Methods to Detect Cancer

Aside from the screening tests mentioned above, there are other kinds that are used to identify other types of cancer that may be present in your body.

Skin exams (for skin cancer)

Since skin cancer is said to be common among individuals, it’s important to familiarize ourselves with the simple tests that come along in checking for it.

For skin cancer screening, you or your healthcare provider only need to examine moles, birthmarks, and any pigmented area of the skin with these signs in mind:

Asymmetry: Is it an irregular shape?
Border: Is it blurry or has irregularly shaped edges?
Color: Does the mole have more than one color?
Diameter: Is it larger than 6 millimeters?
Evolution: Is it getting larger, changing in shape, color, or size?

In doing a cancer screening at home through a self-exam, don’t forget to check your scalp, the bottom of your feet, fingernails, toenails, and even your genitals as these areas need to be assessed as well.

You may also be prevented from undergoing this screening if you currently have:

Extensive burns
Open wounds
Active infections

A yearly screening is recommended once you turn 18 years old.

Multi-cancer Early Detection (MCED) tests

These are tests that involve taking a sample of your blood and screening it to detect several types of cancer. However, since MCED tests are relatively new, there aren’t a lot of clinical trials yet that would support its effectiveness.

Nonetheless, it’s considered as an innovative invention to the healthcare industry that can bring significant difference to how people are screened for cancer (includes pancreatic, prostate, kidney, lung, breast, skin, ovarian, and liver cancer).

Some examples of MCED tests are:

Screening for the Presence of Tumor by Methylation and Size (SPOT-MAS): This detects the tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the blood and is advised more for older people (40 years old and older) and those who have other health conditions brought by genetics and unhealthy habits.
Galleri blood test: This one acts more as an addition to routine cancer screening tests since it cannot detect all cancers, and is recommended for those 50 years old and older.

What to Do If Your Cancer Screening Test Shows Abnormal Results

After you get screened for cancer and get the results, there’s a chance that these results show that you’re positive for the presence of abnormal tissues or mass in your body. Despite this, it does not mean that the tumor found is harmful or requires immediate attention.

There are two types of tumors:

Benign: Noncancerous, slow-growing, does not spread, and may not need treatment
Malignant: Cancerous, fast-growing, spreads, and needs treatment

Your healthcare provider may ask that you undergo diagnostic procedures in order to make a clear diagnosis whether you have cancer or not. Make sure to have a thorough discussion about the matter so that you’ll be aware of all the risks and the advantages that come along with going through such procedures.

In Summary

The importance of cancer screening awareness in the Philippines should be more known among Filipinos for the early detection and prevention of cancer. As it’s a disease that continues to be one of the reasons behind the increase of the country’s mortality rate, a full cancer check ought to be practiced so that there are higher chances for survival and a lesser cost for treatments.

Remember that cancer screenings and cancer diagnosis are not the same. In the event that your cancer screening shows that you have abnormal tissues in your body — this does not automatically mean you have cancer. It just means that you may have to do more tests and procedures for your doctor to determine if you do have the disease or not.

Further, do not hesitate in asking anything you may want to know about cancer screening to your doctor before you undergo its tests. This is to make sure that you’re aware of the pros and cons that comes along with being screened for cancer, and that you know what to expect on the day of your appointment itself.

Early cancer detection tests are significant for the betterment of your well-being. It can lead to faster recovery at the instance that you are diagnosed with cancer, helping you manage the expenses that come along in getting treated for the disease and decreasing the likelihood that it’ll spread to other parts and organs of your body.

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