At Check4Cancer we are keen that you have as many facts as possible before taking a decision to have early detection of cancer services. We hope that you will find the information below useful.

Pros

• Cancer screening may give you an indication of cancer before any symptoms develop.
• Cancer screening may find cancer at an early stage when treatment is more likely to be curative.
• If cancer is diagnosed at an earlier stage, treatment is more likely to be successful.

Cons

• Cancer screening can miss a number of cancers and provide false reassurance: no cancer screening test is 100% accurate. 
• Cancer screening can lead to unnecessary worry and investigations when there is no cancer present.
• A positive screening result may cause anxiety by diagnosing a slow-growing tumour that may never cause any harm or symptoms.