In order to find out whether a person is suffering from cancer or not, one may not have to go to the doctor for investigations. The doctor may proceed as follows:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00b7 History taking
\n\u00b7 Physical examination
\n\u00b7 Laboratory investigations<\/p>\n
However, a doctor may either proceed through all the three steps or he may be able to arrive at a diagnosis only through history taking and physical examination. One should leave it to the doctor for proceeding with the investigations.<\/p>\n
History Taking<\/p>\n
The aim is to get from the patient an accurate account of his complaints: how the symptoms started, how they progressed, What treatment the patient took and with what results. This Information is recorded under the following heads:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Presenting complaints
\n\u00b7 History of present illness
\n\u00b7 History of past illness
\n\u00b7 Family history of any disease
\n\u00b7 Social and personal history of the patient, e.g. whether he is a smoker
\n\u00b7 Occupational history Treatment history<\/p>\n
History taking is as much a science as it is an art. The important thing is for the doctor to make the patient comfortable and at ease so that he narrates all that the doctor needs to know. Social and personal history of the patient as well as the occupational history are important aspects when cancer is suspected.<\/p>\n
Physical Examination<\/p>\n
After having taken the complete history, the doctor does the physical examination of the patient. This includes the general examination of the body, and the local examination of the part from which the complaints of the patient arise.<\/p>\n
The important points that are noted are general appearance of the patient, i.e. whether the patient looks well or unwell, properly nourished or malnourished, has or has not lost weight, looks depressed or anxious, has pain or not, etc. Besides these the following points are also to be noted:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Pulse rate
\n\u00b7 Temperature
\n\u00b7 Blood pressure
\n\u00b7 Breath rate
\n\u00b7 Any swelling anywhere in the body<\/p>\n
Wasting of any part of the body Certain examination are also important, such as:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Examination of the throat, nose, eyes, ears, neck
\n\u00b7 Examination of the abdomen
\n\u00b7 Examination of the heart
\n\u00b7 Examination of the chest
\n\u00b7 Examination of the nervous system
\n\u00b7 Examination of the skin, nails, bones, muscles and limbs.
\n\u00b7 Examination of the genitals in males, including the rectal examination for the prostate glands, and examination of the female genital parts which includes examination of the vagina and the cervix of the uterus.<\/p>\n
General Laboratory Investigations<\/p>\n
There are whole lot of laboratory investigations to aid quick and definite diagnosis. But one may not have to undergo all these tests and investigations.<\/p>\n
It is for the doctor to suggest investigations that may be required for a particular person suspected of cancer of a particular part or area of the body. The investigations may be general in nature or related to cover specific organ system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In order to find out whether a person is suffering from cancer or not, one may not have to go to the doctor for investigations. The doctor may proceed as follows:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cancer-treatment"],"yoast_head":"\n