Screening: diseases — симптомы, диагностика и лечение

Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor in women. And at the same time, one of those where early treatment changes the outcome the most: a tumor found up to 2 cm in size without affecting the lymph nodes is treated fundamentally differently and with a fundamentally different prognosis than an advanced one. The main problem is not that the disease is difficult to treat, but that at an early stage it shows almost nothing: it does not hurt, does not interfere, does not raise the temperature. This is why self-examination and routine ultrasound or mammography are crucial, rather than waiting for symptoms.

Colon polyp is a growth of mucous membrane into the intestinal lumen. By itself, it almost never hurts or interferes, and this is the main difficulty: polyps are found not because a person complains about something, but because he had a colonoscopy. Moreover, the vast majority of cases of colon cancer develop from adenomatous polyps, and this path takes years. Hence the simple logic: a polyp removed in time means cancer prevented. Colonoscopy remains the only test that both finds and immediately eliminates the problem.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in men. Its main feature and main danger is that at an early, completely curable stage, it does not give any symptoms. When complaints about urination or bone pain appear, we are often talking about a common process. That is why it is not waiting for symptoms that is crucial, but routine PSA monitoring after 45–50 years.

Diabetic retinopathy is damage to the small vessels of the retina, which develops with long-term diabetes mellitus and remains one of the leading causes of vision loss in people of working age. Its main feature and main danger is one thing: for a very long time, for years, a person sees well. Changes accumulate in the periphery of the retina, where visual acuity is not formed, and no complaints arise until those stages when it is already difficult to treat. And then vision suddenly decreases - within hours, due to hemorrhage - and the patient is sincerely convinced that “everything happened yesterday.” Hence the only rule that really works: in case of diabetes, the fundus is examined on a schedule, regardless of how you feel. An annual inspection without complaints is not reinsurance, but a way to catch the process at a stage when it can still be stopped with a laser.

Cervical dysplasia is a change in epithelial cells that is not cancer, but can lead to it if not monitored and treated. This is a key step in the path from human papillomavirus infection to cervical cancer - and at the same time the stage at which the disease is completely preventable. This is why regular screening saves lives: detected dysplasia can be treated simply and reliably.

Cervical cancer is one of the few cancers that is almost completely preventable. It develops slowly over years, passing through stages of dysplasia, and at each of these stages can be detected by simple and inexpensive testing. The tragedy of this disease is that the vast majority of advanced cases occur in women who have never had a Pap test.