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Take Charge of Your Health with Prevention and Cancer Screenings

doctor attending to a patient

Each of us has within ourselves the ability to fight cancer by harnessing the power of two potent anti-cancer weapons: prevention and early detection through cancer screenings. Research has shown that the risk of developing many types of cancer can be significantly reduced by making healthy lifestyle changes that include eating a balanced diet, getting regular exercise, and avoiding risky behaviors such as smoking. Routine cancer screenings can detect cancers in their earlier stages when treatment is more likely to be successful.

The World Cancer Research Fund estimates that about 20 percent of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S. are related to lifestyle factors that include poor nutrition, physical inactivity, smoking, excess alcohol consumption, and being overweight. You can reduce your risk of cancer and help prevent it in the first place by eating a nutritious diet with an emphasis on plant-based foods, being physically active, avoiding tobacco products, limiting alcohol use, and maintaining a healthy weight. Healthy lifestyles have also been shown to improve the survival rates of people already diagnosed with some cancers, such as colorectal, breast, and some gynecological cancers.

Many of the most common cancers today, such as cancers of the skin, colon, cervix, and breast, can be detected in their earlier, more curable stages through the use of screening tests. Annual lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) has been shown to reduce lung cancer deaths in individuals at high risk for lung cancer by 20 percent, as opposed to chest x-ray screening.

Cancer prevention also includes immunizations that provide protection from certain viral infections. For the past ten years, the HPV vaccine has been shown to be effective against the human papillomavirus (HPV) that is the cause of most cervical and other genital cancers, as well as genital warts, the most common of sexually-transmitted diseases. 

NewYork-Presbyterian is committed to combatting cancer through prevention and early detection. The Hospital’s Cancer Prevention Program combines the expertise of two premier academic medical institutions, the National Cancer Institute-designated Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center and the NewYork-Presbyterian Ronald P. Stanton Clinical Cancer Program and the Weill Cornell Medicine Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center. The program provides a full range of cancer screening and prevention services at its world premiere Cancer Centers located in the New York metropolitan area. These services include:

  • Mammography and other imaging tests to screen for breast cancer
  • Multiple options for colorectal cancer screening, including colonoscopy and virtual colonoscopy
  • Prostate cancer awareness and education, with discussion about whether to be tested
  • Skin exams to detect melanoma and other skin cancers
  • Low-dose CT scanning for lung cancer screening
  • Cervical cancer screening
  • Genetic counseling and testing
  • HPV (human papillomavirus) testing and vaccination

To learn more about our cancer programs, visit nyp.org/cancer.  To find a physician, please visit nyp.org or call 877-697-9355.