ADVERTISEMENT
After age 70, mammograms can cause false positives and unnecessary treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy. Breast can.cer at this stage often proceeds slowly and doesn’t always pose an immediate risk.
Anxiety and the side effects of aggressive treatments can be more damaging than the disease itself.
3. MRIs or memory scans (such as brain PET scans)
These studies can increase unwarranted alarms about possible dementia or cognitive impairment. Often, “abnormalities” are exposed that don’t affect daily life, but which lead to experimental treatments or unnecessary medications with adverse effects.
Overdiagnosis of Alzheimer’s, for example, can have a strong psychological impact.
4. Prostate cancer screening tests (PSA )
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
