You may want to automatically exclaim "Yes!"..but you would be wrong. According to recent studies, early detection of relapses in certain cancers does not have any significant effect on treatments.
A study conducted in 10 different countries included 265 women who had early detection tests and began chemotherapy and 264 women who waited for symptoms to arise before seeking chemo. In conclusion, the 2 groups showed the same survival rate as well as the ones who chose early detection proved to that chemotherapy worsened their quality of life.
So is early detection helpful or harmful? Is chemotherapy all that they say it is? Should we spend the money on tests that really aren't necessary?
Note: the "early detection" is for relapses of cancer..not for initial diagnosis. I haven't found any study about initial diagnosis as of yet, but will keep you posted if I do
Rain, Rain go away!
16 years ago
