Never tell a patient that you are suspecting a diagnosis of cancer

Never tell a patient that you are suspecting a diagnosis of cancer

Informed consent and a premature communication can be dangerous. Communicate the diagnosis only after it is confirmed that too if it is necessary, said Padma Shri and Dr B C Roy National Awardee Dr K K Aggarwal President Heart Care Foundation ofIndia and National President-Elect IMA.

Suspicions of a cancer or any serious illness should not be communicated unless it is confirmed as it can cause more harm and the harms can persist for years, added Dr S Arulrhaj Past President Commonwealth Medical Association.

A prospective cohort study reveals that negative psychological consequences of false-positive findings on screening mammography may persist for at least 3 years after the initial diagnosis. Women with false-positive findings had similar psychosocial outcomes to those diagnosed with breast cancer at 6 months in the study. At 6 months, psychological testing showed that women who received false-positive results remained as upset as women who had breast cancer.

Three years after the false mammography results, women still exhibited greater psychosocial consequences compared with women who had normal mammograms Dr John Brodersen and Dr Volkert Dirk Siersma, PhD, of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark wrote in an article published in Annals of Family Medicine.

The reported frequency of false-positive mammography results ranges from 20% to 60% in the U.S.and Europe, said Dr Anita Kant Senior Gynecologist at Faridabad.