All Articles on Cancer

• Colon cancer screening doubles with new e-health record use

  Researchers used electronic health records to identify Group Health patients who weren’t screened regularly for cancer of the colon and rectum—and to encourage them to be screened. This centralized, automated approach doubled these patients’ rates of on-time screening—and saved health costs—over two years. The March 5 Annals of Internal Medicine published the randomized controlled trial.
• Biennial and yearly mammograms give older women same benefit

  Among older women, getting a mammogram every two years was just as beneficial as getting a mammogram annually, and led to significantly fewer false-positive results, according to a Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) study including patients and researchers from Group Health. The national study of more than 140,000 women between ages 66 and 89 is in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
• Breast cancer screening: A trio of innovators shines light on the evidence women need

  Serious questions remain about how best to balance screening’s benefits with its potential harms, including false-positive test results, overdiagnosis leading to invasive treatment for non-life-threatening conditions, and repeated exposure to radiation.
• Risk factors may inform breast cancer screening

  hoosing when to start regular breast cancer screening is a complicated decision for individual women and their providers. For most women, increasing age is the biggest risk factor for breast cancer, which is much more common at age 60 than at 40. But two new articles on other risk factors may inform guidelines and clinical practice about screening mammography from age 40 to 49.
• Problems in cancer care are not uncommon

  Cancer care is increasingly complex, and as many as one in five cancer patients may experience “breakdowns” in their care, according to a new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Such breakdowns include communication problems between patients and their care providers, as well as more traditional medical errors; both types of problems can create significant harms. In the study, communication problems outnumbered problems with medical care.
• Teamwork brings $20 million for breast cancer screening research

  Should women start breast cancer screening at age 40 or 50? Every year or every other year? By mammography or breast MRI? As patients and physicians ask these and related questions, confident answers require solid evidence.
• Biopsy referral after PSA screening stays consistent

  The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently concluded that evidence does not support recommending PSA screening for men under 75 years old at all, because the risks outweigh the benefits.