• Question: What are the most obvious symptoms of cancer?

    Asked by 246munm24 to Max on 13 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Max Jamilly

      Max Jamilly answered on 13 Mar 2018:

      Good question! I’m not a medical doctor but advanced cancer can be easy to spot because it causes big changes, growths or disruptions in normal tissue. Some cancer tumours can be seen without any special equipment.

      Detecting early-stage cancer is much more difficult because the signs are more subtle. But some cancers release special chemicals or even DNA into the bloodstream which we can detect using very sensitive tests. For example, there’s a common blood test called the PSA test used to detect prostate cancer in men. Detecting cancer as early as possible is a huge research target because the early we find it, the earlier we can treat it. Maybe you could help join the search for better diagnostics one day?

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