Over-diagnosis of cancer in the last 30 years has led to the need to reduce unnecessary cancer treatment and review language surrounding cancer prognoses, according to a review article published in the latest issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.
Cancer detection has increased without a corresponding decrease in end-stage disease, despite an increase in treatment procedures. This suggests that tumors that would otherwise be benign are receiving unnecessary treatment, according to the article.
The authors suggest the following five steps to better target and treat only those tumors that may actually pose health risks:
1. Acknowledge the role of over-diagnosis in increasing rates of tumor discovery.
2. Use the designation "cancer" only for lesions with likelihood of lethality if left untreated. Re-classify non-malignant tumors and adopt a different set of protocols for treatment.
3. Use observational registries to increase knowledge of prognosis with benign lesions.
4. Reduce over-diagnosis by focusing screening efforts on high-risk populations.
5. Expand cancer management to include a better understanding of environments leading to cancerous and precancerous conditions.
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