Pinpointing the Onset of Metastasis

Within the oncology community, a debate is raging about two controversial topics. The first is overdiagnosis. According to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal, some leading cancer experts say that zealous screening is finding ever-smaller abnormalities that are being labeled cancer or precancer with little or no justification. Coupled to this is a more serious and potentially more destructive problem: overdiagnosis is leading to overtreatment. Some cancer patients being treated aggressively—with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and other treatments—all of which is unnecessary, expensive and can potentially bring lifelong side effects.