Search Tag: overdiagnosis

2019 10 Apr

“Mammography does more harm than good” sums up countless headlines seen in many medical journals, books, and other published articles (print and online). A flood of damaging reports amplified perceived risk of “over-diagnosis” and over-treatment. Study after flawed study — like a house of cards — touted mammography’s alleged harms and costs.  This...Read more

2017 12 Jun

According to a Yale study, because many small breast cancers are inherently slow growing, often these cancers will not grow large enough to become significant within a patient’s lifetime and subsequently early detection could lead to overdiagnosis. In contrast, large tumours that cause most breast cancer deaths often grow so quickly that they become...Read more

2017 24 Jan

An MRI scan given to men with suspected prostate cancer can help reduce rates of unnecessary biopsy by 27 percent and overdiagnosis by 5 percent, says a new study appearing in The Lancet.   See Also : Novel MRI Method Distinguishes Healthy Prostate Tissue from Cancer It's common for men to undergo a biopsy of their prostate if they experience...Read more

2016 22 Jan

Researchers in the U.S. have found that nearly 16 percent of individuals 65 years or older may have received non-recommended screenings for breast and prostate cancers because they had limited life expectancies of less than 10 years. The finding, reported in JAMA Oncology , could help inform measures to curb unnecessary and potentially harmful cancer...Read more

2015 13 Sep

Paying women to have mammograms is unethical, according to a Viewpoint article published in JAMA by an expert from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Insurance companies typically offer cash payments ($10 to $250) for mammography completion. However, such incentives are "ethically troubling," says the article author...Read more

2015 11 Sep

Increased detection of low-risk cancers through the use of high-tech imaging is driving up thyroid cancer rates, according to a Mayo Clinic study published in the journal Thyroid . Researchers found that the number of new cases of thyroid cancer nearly doubled over the past decade, with nearly 30 percent of these recent cases diagnosed when clinicians...Read more

2015 28 Jul

As the concept of “Choosing Wisely” travels the world (USA, Australia, Canada, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK), one Canadian professor of pharmacy, James McCormack , has created medical parodies in song to spread the Choosing Wisely message (and other topics that are well worth a viewing). While the evidence that you retain 20% of what...Read more

2015 11 Jul

Norway's Breast Cancer Screening Programme has come under closer scrutiny following new research showing that the screening results in overdiagnosis — for every life saved by the screening programme, five women are overdiagnosed and treated unnecessarily. The findings are based on a study conducted by the Research Council of Norway — upon...Read more

2015 07 Jul

A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine shows that screening mammography was associated with increased diagnosis of small cancers, but not with significant changes in breast cancer mortality or a decreased incidence of larger breast cancers. Researchers say the increased incidence of small cancers may be the result of overdiagnosis. The researchers...Read more