Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Screening Ion Channels in Cancer Cells
Published on: June 16, 2023
Cancer screening--benefits, harms and making an informed choice
1School of Public Health, University of Sydney, New South Wales. alexb@health.usyd.edu.au
Background:
Screening is a two edged sword, with potential benefits and harms. Despite professional and public enthusiasm for cancer screening there are substantial harms, and increasing evidence that it is not always a good idea to detect cancer early. On the other side, the benefits of cancer screening are quite rare and have been oversold.
Objective:
This article discusses the potential harms of cancer screening and evidence for the benefits.
Discussion:
Well recognised harms include the psychological and physical harms of false positive and false negative tests. More recent research is uncovering what may turn out to be the biggest downside of cancer screening; the potential to uncover clinically irrelevant disease (pseudo-disease) and therefore harm from unnecessary treatment.
Related Concept Videos
Cancer Prevention
Some...
Cancer Prevention
Some...
Cancer Survival Analysis
Preventive Healthcare Services
Nursing Ethical Principles II
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's cancer...
Cancer Vaccines
Cancer vaccines come in two categories: preventive (prophylactic) and treatment (active). Preventive vaccines, such as the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, protect against viruses that cause certain...
