Cancer Testing & Diagnosis
We offer a full range of diagnostic tools to detect cancer early and guide your treatment plan. From lab tests to advanced imaging, our team is here to support you at every stage of your care journey.
Diagnosing Cancer
From routine screenings to genetic counseling for inherited conditions like Lynch syndrome or hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC), Broward Health offers advanced diagnostic tools to support early detection and accurate diagnosis.
As part of the Broward Health community, you’re never alone. Our cancer specialists provide personalized support and guidance, ensuring care is always within reach—whether you live in Broward County or elsewhere in South Florida.
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Testing for Cancer
A complete blood count (CBC) is commonly taken when cancer is a concern. CBCs track the volume of red cells, white cells and platelets in the blood, establishing your health baseline. While abnormal or elevated CBCs can catch leukemia, they can also indicate a more common concern, like an infection, so your care team will work with you to determine the next steps for testing.
Beyond CBC, some blood tests, like the prostate-specific antigen test, identify tumor markers. These are special proteins and chemicals released by tumors when cancer is present.
When your care team finds an area of concern while conducting a physical exam or another diagnostic test, like a colonoscopy, they may remove a small piece of tissue from the area to examine for cancer cells. This is called a biopsy.
For nonsolid samples, like a cyst or fluid-filled tumor, a fine needle may be needed to remove fluid to examine instead of a tissue sample.
Depending on the circumstances of your biopsy, you may only need local anesthesia for your procedure and you may go home the same day.
Imaging exams, or diagnostic imaging, are specialized scans of your bones, organs or blood vessels, taken by technologists and studied by our radiology leaders for signs of tumors or abnormal growths.
After taking the scans, they are shared with your multidisciplinary cancer care team to develop a treatment plan. Depending on your diagnosis, you may need continued imaging through treatment to check on tumor progression.
As part of a screening your doctor may choose to use a small, flexible tube with a camera to examine areas of concern inside your body. If your physician determines it’s necessary, they can take biopsy sample of the area to help streamline your diagnosis.
Common scopes include:
- Endoscopy
- Colonoscopy
- Laparoscopy
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