Problems With Prostate and Breast Cancer Screening
09/11/2009
The chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS), Dr. Otis Brawley, admitted that the benefits of cancer screening, especially for prostate and breast cancer, have been oversold. Dr. Brawley's original comments apparently arose in an interview with the Times about an essay published in the October 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association about the need to rethink prostate and breast cancer screening.
The essay argues that new approaches to screening for breast and prostate cancer are needed, because the current methods have not led to a "significant reduction in deaths" from the 2 diseases.
The chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS), Dr. Otis Brawley, admitted that the benefits of cancer screening, especially for prostate and breast cancer, have been oversold. Dr. Brawley's original comments apparently arose in an interview with the Times about an essay published in the October 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association about the need to rethink prostate and breast cancer screening.
The essay argues that new approaches to screening for breast and prostate cancer are needed, because the current methods have not led to a "significant reduction in deaths" from the 2 diseases.