• Question: how do you spot cancer in a person

    Asked by Lewis -T- to Hannah, Jenny, Steven on 17 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Jenny Batson

      Jenny Batson answered on 17 Nov 2016:

      Hi Lewis
      It depends what type of cancer it is. Some types, e.g. breast, you can feel a lump or any abnormality can be checked by a doctor. Melanoma you might have really bad sunburn or a funny looking mole. These are usually all harmless but the doctor can have a better look and has a microscope and some other devices to see if it is cancerous. Usually if they think there could be cancer they take some tissue for a biopsy and it gets sent to labs who do staining on it to see if it is cancerous. They might then take more tissue and do more tests to confirm.
      Jenny

    • Photo: Steven Street

      Steven Street answered on 18 Nov 2016:

      Hi Lewis,

      Good question! The short answer is that it’s still quite hard, and this is an active area of research which has many people working on it!

      There are lots of techniques used currently, and as Jenny said it depends on the type of cancer. Some examples are listed here:

      http://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/diagnosing-cancer/tests-and-procedures

      But new techniques are being developed all the time. Particularly important is to find tests that can identify tumours when they are in their early stages, as catching it early improves the chance of survival!

      Steve

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