Routine physical examination package

The best choice for a regular physical examination package is never the more expensive, the better, and the more complete the items, the better, but "full coverage of the basic necessary items + 1-3 personalized high-risk items supplemented". 90% of the popular luxury packages that promote "for the whole family" are essentially tools for merchants to package non-essential items at a premium to make money. There is no need for healthy people to spend this wasted money.

A few days ago, a reader sent me a 4,999 "exclusive medical examination card for the whole family" that she grabbed from an Internet celebrity medical examination institution. I glanced at the program list and laughed: a 28-year-old girl, with no family history of cancer, does not smoke or drink. The package includes full-body PET-CT, prostate-specific antigen, and a complete set of more than 20 tumor markers. These items alone accounted for more than 3,000 yuan in cost. For her, apart from taking more radiation and increasing anxiety, it was of no use at all.

In fact, there have always been two completely opposite voices in the industry regarding how to choose a routine physical examination package: one group is the "all-inclusive party", which believes that checking more is better than missing something, and will buy peace of mind even if it is found to be useless; the other group is the "minimalist party", which believes that all additional items except the basic items are IQ taxes, and there is no need for ordinary people to waste money. Both of these statements are actually a bit extreme. I helped a friend screen the packages for almost five years at a tertiary medical examination center. To be honest, the one that suits you is really useful.

Don’t think that the basic package for employees of the public tertiary companies, which costs less than 300 yuan, is shabby. In fact, they provide you with all the core required items: basic height, weight, blood pressure, routine hematuria, liver and kidney function, blood lipids, fasting blood sugar, chest DR, abdominal ultrasound, and electrocardiogram. These items may seem ordinary, but they can actually screen out 80% of common health problems. Last year, I met a young man who had just graduated. The cheapest basic package purchased by his employer showed that his liver function transaminase had soared to 320. Further examination revealed that he had severe fatty liver. He stayed up late drinking milk tea every day without feeling any discomfort. If it were two years later, he might develop cirrhosis of the liver.

The basic package is enough to provide a basic foundation, but to really suit your situation, you have to add 1-3 items based on your own living habits and family medical history, not more. For example, if you have been smoking for 10 years, at least one pack a day, don’t hesitate to replace the chest DR in the basic package with a low-dose chest CT. It costs more than 200 yuan more than DR, and the detection rate of early lung cancer can be improved by several orders of magnitude; if more than two of your parents or grandparents have diabetes, even if you are only 30 years old, you need to add glycated hemoglobin, which is much more accurate than a single fasting blood glucose test and can reflect your recent history. 3-month blood sugar level; girls should pay more attention. Regardless of whether it is included in the unit package, they must add gynecological examination, TCT, and HPV. The price ranges from tens to hundreds of dollars. It is the most effective way to screen for cervical cancer. My best friend took the initiative to add these two items last year. She was found to have high-risk HPV16, which turned negative within half a year of early intervention. If she waits for symptoms to be checked again, it may lead to problems.

The most frequently asked question now is whether tumor markers and genetic testing should be added. There is really no unified conclusion in this industry. Many physicians I know believe that if normal healthy people do not have high-risk factors, there is no need to check for tumor markers. The false positive rate is too high. Two years ago, a colleague of mine was found to have high carcinoembryonic antigen. He was so frightened that he could not sleep well for half a month. After two reexaminations, he found out that he was drinking alcohol every day during that period. You've suffered a lot of trouble all night long, but some friends from the oncology department said that the total of three or four basic tumor markers only costs more than 100 yuan. If you really come across early signals, it's worth it no matter what. As long as you have enough mental endurance and won't be anxious every day because of a little abnormality, there is nothing wrong with adding it. As for those genetic tests that advertise that they can check the risk of more than a dozen types of cancer for a few hundred yuan, to tell you the truth, only those with clear genetic sites and family histories such as breast cancer and colorectal cancer need to check. The "risk of lung cancer is 30% higher" found by ordinary people are all based on big data. They have no reference value at all and are purely IQ taxes.

Finally, let me give you a little experience I summarized. When choosing a regular physical examination package, don’t just look at the price and the number of advertised items. There are two points: first, look for the ones that don’t have all the basic items. If they are missing the basic items mentioned above, don’t buy them no matter how cheap they are; second, those that give you PET-CT. , whole-body thermal imaging, and dozens of tumor marker packages, no matter how good they are, as long as you don’t already have symptoms of suspected cancer or need to be reviewed after surgery, you can just pass. The amount of radiation is enough for you to undergo dozens of DRs. There is really no need to suffer this for the so-called "peace of mind." If you are really not sure what items to add, you can register and chat with a general practitioner for 5 minutes. He will tell you about your daily habits and whether there are any genetic diseases in your family. The additional items recommended by the doctor will be much more reliable than blindly reading the propaganda for half a day on your own.

In the past two years or so, I have helped 20 or 30 friends around me adjust their physical examination packages. On average, each person can save 1,800, and everything that needs to be checked can be checked. To put it bluntly, routine physical examination is an annual minor overhaul of the body. It is not about buying luxury goods. The more expensive you are, the better. The one that suits you is the best.