Healthy Living
Health Q&A With Dr. Simcha Shapiro Why screening tests are so important. Q: Dear Dr. Shapiro, Having recently turned 50, I went to my family doctor to have a check-up. While talking with him, he recommended that I get a routine colonoscopy. I’ll be honest, the thought terrifies me! Why do I need to go doing tests just so that I can drive myself crazy finding out if there is something wrong, when I am feeling good?—Testy about tests A: Dear Testy,
What you are experiencing is totally normal. Doing medical tests is scary. All the more so, when they may involve complications, or test for serious diseases as cancer. The concept behind screening tests, is that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Many illnesses, both mild and serious, can be prevented from causing serious damage, if caught early enough. If cancer is caught early, the chances of successful treatment are much higher. Conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes affect a person much differently if they are detected and controlled early, instead of after 20 years. Remember, for many conditions, by the time a person has symptoms, they may have had the condition for quite a while. There are really two criteria to take into consideration when faced with screening tests: 1. Would you do something different based on the results of the test? The purpose of doing tests is to help us make more informed decisions. If one has
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already made a decision, and is not open to changing his mind, there is no reason to do any tests. A person who says that she would not undergo any treatment if she was diagnosed with colon cancer, should not undergo a screening test for colon cancer (I often see this with elderly patients). 2. Do the risks of doing the test, warrant the information gained from the test (cost/benefit analysis)? Many medical tests involve a large cost in terms of time, potential complications, and money. This needs to be weighed against the benefit of the information gained. If one could get all of the information she needed about breast cancer from a blood test, more people would be tested. The inconvenience and discomfort incurred by mammography, make less people interested in doing it. There are some tests that check for so many things with such little inconvenience/ risk, that it is recommended that everyone do them. Examples are: annual check-ups, routine blood tests, routine eye exams, etc. There are so many things being checked for with these tests, and they are so easy for most people to do, that it is not necessary to think about each condition being tested for. There are however, some more specific standard screening tests that involve more cost, risk, or inconvenience (colon cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer... etc.). A person with very strong family history of a particular condition, or symptoms that are suspicious of a particular condition will need to take that into account in
his cost/benefit analysis as well. This is where your doctor comes in. Your doctor can explain the benefits of the information gained by the test and the risks involved.
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‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’” Then you make a more informed decision about what you want to do. Medical tests can be scary. There is no way around that. Remember, however, that they exist for a purpose. Medical tests are an important (but not always mandatory) part of the decision process that you have with your doctor about your health care. ° Dr. Simcha Shapiro is a US trained physician and osteopath. He is the founder and director of the Listening Hands Institute in the Maalot Dafna neighborhood of Jerusalem. He can be contacted via his website www.listeninghands.co.il
| May 2008