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Doctors: Best bet against cancer is early detection

Category: Cancer Detection and Tumor Markers

National Cancer Survivors Day was Sunday, and amidst the support for the approximately 12 million Americans who currently live with cancer, doctors took the opportunity to remind people that early cancer detection is one of the best ways to increase your odds of survival.

"I have a great deal of respect for prevention and early detection of cancer," said Dr Mark Thompson of North Florida Cancer Center of Lake City and Florida Radiation Oncology Group to the Lake City Reporter, adding that early detection of cancer always leads to improved results.

Thompson said he far prefers telling a woman the small lump in her breast is a tumor that was found in time than telling her she waited too long.

"With the economics of today," he said, "some people are less apt to get a test or to see their physician. They hope that by ignoring it, it will go away."

The American Society of Clinical Oncology says that cancer treatment is more likely to be successful when the cancer is diagnosed before it has spread, and has set goals to increase the proportion of at-risk people who get tested for cancer.