screening

The National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, the North American Association of
Major study of screening mammography confirms what we have been told, over and over: routine screening for breast cancer saves few (if any) lives and the costs financial, medical and emotional are huge.
Federal health panel officially recommends annual lung cancer screening with chest CT scans for high-risk smokers and some ex-smokers. Potential to save over 20,000 lives.
High blood cholesterol levels are known risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), and heart disease is the number one killer of Americans. One might think that, given this widely-known information, people would be good about having their cholesterol levels checked regularly.
Most breast cancer deaths occurred among women who had not been screened, and the median age of diagnosis was 49-50. The authors say this calls for more frequent and younger age for mammograms to start.
Ovarian cancer is difficult to diagnose before it progresses, and thus far there are no effective ways to screen women for it. However, a new method may help detect the disease in its early stages.
Here at ACSH, we have long felt that the public is bombarded with so many messages regarding their health, that sifting out the right answers for themselves can be nearly impossible. In The New York Times today, the editorial Mixed Blessings does a great job