Advice for All Americans Living in the 21st Century

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS) the life time risk of developing cancer is now 44% for men and 38% for women (see section on cancer statistics and below). There are on-line calculators which will determine if your risk is higher or lower than average (see calculators). There is more known about family history and cancer (go here) and more genes that can be screened for the genetic risks of cancer (go here)

It makes sense to try to prevent getting cancer. The best advice on lowering your risk comes from the ACS, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Harvard,  and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). The best detailed information about preventing specific types of cancer is found on the NCI section by specific cancer (go here).

Along with trying to prevent cancer it makes sense to get appropriate screening tests so if you do get cancer it will be picked up at an early or curable stage. The best advice on screening comes from the ACS, the NCI, Memorial Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson,  and the NCCN.

Under Obama-Care the insurance plans must now follow the guidelines from the US Preventative Services Task Force (the A and B recommendations) (go here for a complete list of their recommendations).  Go here to download the apps for these guidelines or go to their web site here. On the healthcare.gov web site is a list of all the cancer screening and prevention tests that should be free (go here).

If you have cancer, the best advice on current treatment found on the web is from the NCCN and the NCI or look for research trials here or here.  The NCCN section for patients and caregivers is very good for useful information about treatment and support groups and can be found here.

More complete and comprehensive information can be found at aboutcancer and here.