Posted on 08/28/2023 10:45:57 AM PDT by thegagline
Most cancer screenings don’t ultimately give someone extra time beyond their regular lifespan, according to a new review of clinical trials involving more than 2.1 million people who had six kinds of common tests for cancer. But experts say this doesn’t mean you should cancel that colonoscopy or mammogram appointment. *** Depending on age, the American Cancer Society recommends regular screenings for breast cancer, cervical and colorectal cancer, and it recommends discussing screening for lung and prostate cancer with a doctor***
The strategy behind these recommendations is to catch cancer early enough — even before symptoms start — so that doctors can take steps to improve a person’s chance of surviving their cancer and prevent premature death.
The latest study, published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, found that of the six most common cancer screenings, only colorectal cancer screening with sigmoidoscopy — in which doctors check the lower part of the colon or large intestine for cancer — seemed to make a difference in extending someone’s life. It may extend life by a little more than three months, the research says.
The researchers looked at clinical trials that involved at least nine years of follow-up reporting and found no significant difference in lifetime gain with the other most common cancer screening tests: mammography for breast cancer, colonoscopy, fecal occult blood testing or endoscopy (FOBT), prostate-specific antigen tests, and computed tomography for current or former smokers. *** Cancer screening was never really designed to increase longevity. Screenings are really designed to decrease premature deaths from cancer.”
Explained another way, Dahut said, if a person’s life expectancy at birth was 80, a cancer screening may prevent their premature death at 65, but it wouldn’t necessarily mean they’d live to be 90 instead of the predicted 80. ***
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I think most have turned into business development screenings.
Yep. Don’t stop funding the medical/pharmacological cabal. More screenings, more tests, more better.
I have no idea what that means.
Since this is from CNN, It is best I believe “most cancer screenings extend life. But cancel that appointment.”
Folks, NO CANCER SCREENING HAS ANY IMPACT ON CANCER.
It is only helpful for those who are found to have cancer, and the earlier, the better, for TREATMENT, and treatment options have gotten much better in the past ten years.
That whole article is stupid.
Let them ram that tube inside you, then pay up. Then die. What’s not to like?
It means the treatment for the cancer can sometimes kill you, or at least make you wish you were dead.
For example - prostate cancer detection in an 85 year old, treatment is likely to have adverse consequences and no added time. Prostate cancer detection in a 60 year old is likely to result in a complete cure and years added to ones life. Consequences of the treatment might be unpleasant for some.
Not to worry. Soon another study will say the opposite
“Cancer screening was never really designed to increase longevity. Screenings are really designed to decrease premature deaths from cancer”
If fewer individuals succumb to premature death, the average lifespan of the population could extend. Thus, cancer screenings can potentially enhance one’s longevity. However, when it’s one’s time to depart, it’s inevitable something else will get you.
” . . . but don’t cancel that screening!” Yeah, the oncology industry depends on you to maintain its billion-dollar market.
“It is only helpful for those who are found to have cancer, and the earlier, the better, for TREATMENT, and treatment options have gotten much better in the past ten years.
That whole article is stupid.”
Agreed! It looks like someone was grasping for a headline that would appear newsworthy...when in fact it’s meaningless.
“Explained another way, Dahut said, if a person’s life expectancy at birth was 80, a cancer screening may prevent their premature death at 65, but it wouldn’t necessarily mean they’d live to be 90 instead of the predicted 80. “
This is a poorly written article. And it isn’t groundbreaking news; it’s just common sense.
Early detection allows the medical community to improve 5 year survival rates which is important for the marketing of their cancer treatments.
You still die at the same time you would have anyway (assuming the treatments don’t hasten your demise), you just know about it longer and suffer longer from their treatments.
Maybe it’s me but that seems a ridiculous article.
I’ve never thought a screening would add years to my life, only that it could possibly stop/delay premature death.
Do they inform people that buying insurance on a car won’t extend the life of that car?
Headline writer didn't understand the story--which is making a point that's kinda complicated, but not nonsense.
According to the text below, screenings can catch a cancer when it can still be defeated. That means that if you had a certain life expectancy--say, 80--before they discovered the cancer in an early enough stage, and you get it zotted, you'll probably still make 80.
My cousin ignored a lump in her breast and did not go in for a mammogram.
By the time she decided to do something about it the tumor had already metastasized.
She died a really horrible death.
What they DON’T tell you with all these ‘screenings’ is that CMMS (and your supplemental insurance) won’t pay for them.
I have fought for years against “screening” “testing”, etc etc every tune I dared go to a doctor. I’ve been more afraid of the X rays, and all the other tests I can’t recall, so I refused to take them. I’ve stayed healthy and away from doctors for years. My system has proven to be the best for me. I’ll be 90 in Dec. I dread the fight I will have when I’m put under “care”. I pity the doctors. it will be war. I’m dying on my own terms,
I forgot to ad. On God’s terms.
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