Cancer Screening Programmes

Cancer screening means testing people who have no symptoms to find cancer early, or to find pre-cancerous changes that can be removed. Only a handful of cancers have screening tests proven to reduce deaths: cervical, breast, bowel and, in heavy smokers, lung cancer. Prostate screening is an individual decision after discussion.

Screening saves lives at a population level, but every test has downsides: false alarms, further invasive tests, and overdiagnosis of slow cancers that would never have caused harm. More testing is not automatically better, and whole-body scans or panels of tumour marker blood tests are not recommended for healthy people.

Conditions this service looks after

• Cervical cancer and pre-cancer
• Breast cancer
• Bowel cancer and polyps
• Lung cancer in current and former heavy smokers
• Prostate cancer, by informed choice
• Skin cancer in people at high risk
• Liver cancer in people with cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis B
• Hereditary cancer syndromes such as BRCA and Lynch syndrome

Tests you may be offered

• HPV test and cervical smear: From about age 25 to 65, every 3 to 5 years depending on the test used.
• Mammography: Typically every 2 years from age 40 to 50 up to 70 to 74, depending on national guidance; earlier with a strong family history, sometimes with MRI.
• FIT stool test: A home test for hidden blood, every 1 to 2 years from about age 45 to 50, followed by colonoscopy if positive.
• Colonoscopy: Every 10 years if normal, from age 45 to 50; earlier and more often with a family history or previous polyps.
• Low-dose CT of the chest: Yearly for people aged roughly 50 to 80 with a heavy smoking history.
• PSA blood test: Offered to men from about 50, or 45 with a family history or African ancestry, after a discussion of benefits and harms.
• Skin examination with dermoscopy: For people with many moles, fair skin, previous skin cancer or immunosuppression.
• Genetic counselling and testing: When several relatives have had breast, ovarian, bowel or related cancers, especially at a young age.

Treatments available

• Risk assessment: Your age, sex, family history, smoking and previous results determine which tests are worthwhile.
• Removal of pre-cancerous lesions: Polyps removed at colonoscopy and abnormal cervical cells treated by a small loop excision.
• Prevention: HPV and hepatitis B vaccination, stopping smoking, limiting alcohol, a healthy weight and sun protection.
• Referral pathway: A written report and a clear route to biopsy and specialist care if something is found.

When to ask for a specialist opinion

• You have reached the starting age for a screening test and have not had it
• A close relative had cancer before the age of 50, or several relatives have had related cancers
• You have a long smoking history
• You carry, or may carry, an inherited gene change
• You have any symptom, such as a lump, bleeding or unexplained weight loss: that needs a diagnostic appointment, not screening

Travelling to Türkiye for this care

Screening fits well into a one to three day check-up visit: mammography, a cervical test, a colonoscopy with polyp removal and a low-dose chest CT can all be arranged in that time, with reports in English. The value of screening comes from repeating it at the right intervals, so keep your results and share them with your doctor at home. If something abnormal is found, you will need to decide where to have further tests and treatment. Avoid packages built around whole-body scans and long lists of tumour markers, which produce many false alarms.

Send your reports, scans and a short history and a Clinic-Y coordinator replies within 24 hours with suitable teams and written, all-inclusive proposals side by side. Reviewing your case is free.

Frequently Asked Questions