Experts: Benefits of cancer screenings overinflated
In Reader’s Digest, Shannon Brownlee reports that while the American Cancer Society and federal government still push regular cancer screenings, “a growing group of scientific heretics - published in highly respected medical journals, working at some of the most august institutions - strongly believe that it’s time to rethink our whole approach.”
(Some researchers) say that yearly mammograms are not nearly as effective at reducing the risk of dying of breast cancer as most women think, and that mammography leads many women to get unnecessary treatment - especially those diagnosed with DCIS [ductal carcinoma in situ]. The problem is bigger than just mammography: They say the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test may do men more harm than good if they don’t already have symptoms of prostate cancer. And they have similarly grim things to say about other widely used cancer screening tests.
Experts that Brownlee interviewed say that screening catches tumors that would never cause major problems but not so effective at catching the more deadly, fast-growing kinds of cancer. Only a small percentage of all cancers that occur are fatal, and some cancers disappear on their own, Brownlee reports.
Brownlee also answers reader questions directly and has talked to AHCJ about her book, Overtreated.
Comments
2 Comments on Experts: Benefits of cancer screenings overinflated
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Reporter joins DNA risk-analysis study : Covering Health on
Tue, 31st Mar 2009 3:53 pm
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Prenatal thyroid testing fuels screening debate : Covering Health on
Thu, 16th Apr 2009 5:12 pm
[...] hear Dotinga tell it, genetic testing seems similar to regular cancer screenings, in that the benefit in early detection of problems may be outweighed by the cost of testing and [...]
[...] up. Those involved would do well to look at more developed testing debates, such as bone density, cancers, turmors and anormalities, and even the growing field of DNA [...]
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