It happens that cancer does not manifest itself on its own, but becomes something of an accidental finding during the diagnosis of completely different diseases. What types of cancer can be detected by chance, aif.ru told Candidate of Medical Sciences, radiotherapist, Deputy General Director for Scientific Work of the Oncology Clinic Denis Romanov.
No chance
Examples of non-accidental detection include the following situations:
- I had a severe headache, had a convulsive attack, had vision problems, and so on – they did a CT/MRI of the brain and found a tumor;
- pain in the oral cavity, difficulty in nasal breathing, swallowing, hoarseness appeared – they did a rhino- or laryngoscopy (or a dentist / ENT / oncologist examined the oral cavity and oropharynx) – they found a tumor;
- a woman felt a mass in her mammary gland or axillary area (or very, very rarely – a man, and the gland in this case is called the mammary gland) – they did an ultrasound / mammography – they found a tumor;
- there were complaints of cough, shortness of breath, weight loss, hemoptysis – they did an x-ray / CT scan – they found a tumor,
- nausea and vomiting appeared, pain in the upper floor of the abdominal cavity, disturbances in the passage of food through the esophagus – they did a gastroscopy and found a tumor;
- there were complaints of constipation, pain in the lower abdomen, bleeding during bowel movements – they did a colonoscopy and found a tumor;
- physiologically unfounded discharge of blood from the genital tract appeared – a gynecologist examined it (or did a separate diagnostic curettage) – a tumor was found;
- the volume of the abdomen increased greatly – they did an ultrasound / CT / MRI – they found a tumor;
- difficulties urinating appeared – consulted a urologist – took a PSA test, performed a digital rectal examination, TRUS / MRI – at least suspected a tumor;
- They found blood in the urine – they did a cystoscopy – they found a tumor.
This list can be continued endlessly. Moreover, if a person turned to a dermatologist or oncologist with a certain formation on the skin and during a routine examination or during dermatoscopy its malignancy was suspected and then confirmed, then such a tumor should not be considered an accidental finding, because, in fact, the patient turned to doctor with a complaint about something that has caused him concern.
It was just luck
As for “random” findings, the most striking, frequent and correct are those malignant neoplasms that were detected as part of screening. Yes, as part of those banal and, alas, preventive diagnostic measures disliked by many people, such as chest radiography (or fluorography, or – best of all – low-dose CT), examination by a mammologist and gynecologist, ultrasound of the mammary glands and mammography, PSA blood test .
These are the studies that, taking into account the age groups of the population, are required and recommended as part of the state provision of prevention of the development and screening of cancer (and not only them). That is, one can only imagine the social significance of their timely and regular implementation. A disease detected before the development of complaints has a statistically much greater chance of a complete cure.
It’s a completely different matter when the disease has already reached an advanced stage and, in fact, forced the person to see a doctor; in such a situation, a large volume and duration of treatment are usually required, and the prognosis for recovery may be much more unfavorable.
By the way, it is not necessary to limit the scope of preventive diagnostic studies to those indicated above. An excellent option is to perform preventive gastro- and colonoscopy, because a timely removed benign polyp is, possibly, stage III-IV cancer prevented after 5-10 years. Modern society now invests a lot of effort, time and money in education, in spiritual practices, in a healthy lifestyle as an investment in its future, but this way – just by removing a small polyp – we can save ourselves from trouble, in the fight against which we will later -no other undoubtedly significant and important achievements of a person will really help.
If we talk about another type of “random” finds, then they are quite rare. These are those malignant tumors that were discovered during examination for other diseases or in preparation for their treatment. A common occurrence is gastroscopy before surgery for a non-cancer disease. They did and found, for example, early stomach cancer. Or they did an MRI to detect herniated intervertebral discs due to back pain and at the scan border they discovered a certain tumor of the kidney or lung (if metastases were found in the vertebrae, then this will not be considered an accidental finding – even if the patient will be shocked, waiting for confirmation of “osteochondrosis, which “everyone has what you want, age,” since, probably, it was these metastases that were the cause of the development of the pain syndrome, which prompted the patient to visit doctors and be examined). But such “accidental” finds are quite rare.
To summarize, I would like to emphasize the importance of screening for malignant diseases. Yes, screening in no way prevents their occurrence (unlike lifestyle and living conditions, for example), but it allows you to increase the chances of their timely detection and, accordingly, solving this problem with less treatment and with better prospects.
Source: aif.ru