Cancer Screening: Does It Really Save Lives?

Anne is a good patient. She sees her doctor for regular checkups, has yearly mammograms, Pap tests, and colon cancer screenings, and she even paid for a full-body CT scan out of her own pocket. She figures she's doing everything she can to make sure she doesn't get cancer.

Truth is, Anne is doing nothing to prevent cancer. Although cancer screening is billed as a preventive service that saves lives, the best it can do is detect disease in its early stages, when it is supposedly easier to treat. Nevertheless, every year millions of Americans dutifully line up for their screenings, completely unaware that they may be doing more harm than good.

For more than 15 years, I've been warning patients about the downside of mammograms, PSA testing, and the overall concept of cancer screening. It hasn't been a popular position. Today, however, there's a small but growing band of researchers, clinicians, and expert panels who are speaking out against the unbridled use of these tests. One of them, H. Gilbert Welch, MD, a professor at Dartmouth Medical School, has laid out very persuasive arguments in an aptly titled book, Should I Be Tested for Cancer? Maybe Not and Here's Why. In this straightforward and well-referenced book, Dr. Welch raises several concerns about cancer screening.

read more at http://www.naturalnews.com/026558_cancer_cancer_screening_Prostate.html