October is breast cancer awareness month. Although the disease still affects hundreds of thousands of American women (and their families) each year, breast cancer is in some sense a medical success story. From 1989 to 2022, the rate of breast cancer mortality decreased by 44%, which translates to 517,900 deaths that have been avoided.

What explains this dramatic advance? Improved treatment is one contributor, but perhaps more important is widespread awareness and adoption of breast cancer screening over the last few decades. Mammograms allow for earlier detection of breast cancer, which has made the disease more treatable and increased survival rates.

Recommended screening tests also exist for other cancer types: cervical, lung, and colorectal cancer (CRC). According to a recent study funded by the National Cancer Institute, increasing screening rates for the above 4 cancers by just 10 percentage points could result in more than 15,000 fewer cancer deaths among those eligible for screening.

Why aren’t more Americans getting screened for cancer? Lack of awareness and perceived inconvenience are sometimes obstacles. Screening for CRC or lung cancer may require taking a day off work, or inconvenient preparation. But recent advances in cancer screening have made the process more convenient and painless. For example, in addition to the traditional colonoscopy and more recently developed at-home stool tests, there are now FDA-approved blood tests that can screen for colorectal cancer during a routine annual physical. Blood tests are being developed for a range of other cancer types (including lung), promising to make cancer screening more widely accessible, convenient, and accurate. 

The data are clear: cancer screening saves many lives. There is simply no excuse not to speak to your doctor about which cancer screenings are recommended for you and your loved ones.

John McLaughlin

Wyndmoor