The mantra “early diagnosis” is a bit like “free money”—it sounds great, but there’s a complicated catch. Patients will be short changed unless it’s fairly explained. Why are we so reluctant to be upfront about downsides?
Margaret McCartney's editorial in the British Medical Journal is a short, readable introduction in the epidemic of cancer screening: Download Margaret McCartney: Early cancer diagnosis: how low should we go? - bmj.h6442.full