Some tests, treatments, and procedures are
not only unnecessary but could also be harmful.
“Sometimes less really is more,” says Lowell E. Schnipper, M.D., chief
of hematology oncology a Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical in Boston
Schnipper heads an expert task force that
is identifying cancer-related tests and treatments that are not supported by
evidence for most patients. The panel
was convened by the American Society of Clinical Oncology a professional
medical society dedicated to research, education, prevention and high quality,
high value cancer care. This is not a
‘never’ list says Douglas Blayney, M.D., medical director of the ASCO task
force at the Stanford Cancer Institute
in California and a member of the ASCO task force that developed the recommendations. It’s a tool to help you discuss options with
your health provider and choose wisely among them. For example, if you are enrolled in a clinical
trial you may need to receive the therapy in order to continue participating.
When a patient is diagnosed with cancer,
doctors use tissue and biochemical analysis to “stage” the disease, that is, to
find out how aggressive it is and whether it has the potential to invade other
parts of the body. If, based on these
tests, if the cancer has spread, or metastasized, doctors can proceed with imagine
tests to find out where in the body the cancer is lurking.
If staging indicates that a patient has a
tumor with a low risk of metastasis ASCO recommends against imaging tests. Low-risk tumors include:
* Early
breast cancer at stages I and II, and at stage 0 (ductal carciuoma) in which
situation the cancer is confined to the ducts of the breast).
*
Early stage low-grade prostate cancer with a 6 or less Gleason score of
a PSA level of less than 10 nanograms per milliliter. Further information and follow-ups are
available in the October 2012 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.
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