Health Tip: Screening for Cancer

ByABC News
October 29, 2009, 11:23 AM

Oct. 30 -- (HealthDay News) --

The best way to get a good prognosis when it comes to cancer is to get diagnosed as early as possible -- and that's where cancer screening tests come in.

Here are some of the cancer screening tests that are currently available and the type of cancers that they screen for, courtesy of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

  • Mammogram to help detect breast cancer.
  • Pap test to screen for cervical cancer.
  • Colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy to help detect colon cancer.
  • Chest X-ray, CT scan or sputum cytology (microscopic examination of phlegm to screen for cancer cells) for lung cancer.