SCREENING TESTS

Screening tests are generally laboratory tests done to detect potential health problems early in patients without any symptoms or signs.

These can be blood testsor sometimes, as in the case of cervical cancer,tissue tests.Here, a scraping of cells from the cervix is taken and examined under microscope to detect any abnormal cells, in women over the age of 20 years.

Screening tests are available to detect any abnormality in the child,during the early months of pregnancy itself(Double marker,Triple marker etc).It is also available for certain cancers(breast,colorectal,cervix as mentioned above).Screening tests are not diagnostic tests,but if abnormal,patients will need additional tests to confirm the same.This way these tests help in early detection of certain diseases.