Medicine and Science from The BMJ

Cancer screening: when does testing go too far?

June 12 · 36 min · Episode 83 · 35.4 MB
0:00-36:51

Streams straight from the publisher. podnod never proxies or re-hosts episode audio.

The heated debate on prostate cancer screening boils down to one question: should men be routinely screened?

Two recent position statements from the UK’s national screening committee published in the BMJ show that screening decisions are steeped in complexity. 

The benefits of screening may be easier to grasp, but the harms of overdiagnosis and overtreatment are given less attention. Can we close the divide between the public and academic discourse?

 

Guest: Sian Taylor-Phillips is professor of population health at the University of Warwick and a member of the UK national screening committee.

 

Further Reading:

More interviews from the BMJ on our Youtube channel.