By Lily H-A
From PHN Issue 54, Fall 2023

The goal of cancer screening is to catch cancer early, when it is more treatable and curable. Some cancer screenings, like colonoscopies, are recommended for everybody once they reach a certain age. However, other types of screening, like prostate screening and mammograms, have traditionally been recommended based on gender assuming that this matches sex assigned at birth. The medical guidelines for cancer screening do not yet reflect the needs of trans people, and there is also limited data about trans people’s risks for various cancers and how gender-affirming care like hormones and surgeries may affect these risks. As a general rule, University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Transgender Care recommends that people get cancer screenings based on the body parts they have, regardless of gender or hormones.