Screening is another word for testing to see if you have an illness. In relation to cancer, there are screening programs in place for a variety of cancers. These include breast cancer and cervical cancer. Screening programs may be able to pick up cancers at an early (or even pre-cancerous) stage, which could make treatment less difficult and improve survival. Sometimes screening can show suspicious results when in fact there is no cancer (called false positives), so further investigation is usually needed.