Is it worth it for your elders to get cancer screening? Risks that doctors don’t tell you about

“The benefits of cancer screening, at least in terms of improved mortality, are usually not seen until about 10 years later,” Korenstein said.

Some terminal cancer patients even continue to be screened for other malignancies. A 2010 study showed that among elderly women with Medicare who had terminal cancer (including lung, colon or pancreatic cancer), 9% still had mammograms and 6% still had cervical cancer screenings, while 15% of elderly men with terminal cancer continued to be screened for prostate cancer.

Korenstein said that screening can extend and improve the lives of young and healthy adults, but it often does more harm than good for the elderly and frail. The screening may cause anxiety in patients or lead to invasive follow-up examinations and unbearable treatments. Dr. Cary Gross, a professor at Yale University School of Medicine, holds the same view: “For those chronic patients in their 80s, screening has almost no benefit, and the harm may be greater than the benefit.”

The American Cancer Society recommends that only patients who can live more than 10 years are suitable for prostate cancer and breast cancer screening.

Unnecessary cancer screening is not only a waste of time, but also a waste of money. Studies show that federal Medicare spends at least $145 million a year on prostate cancer screening for men over 75 years old, and more than $410 million on breast cancer X-rays for women over 75 years old. If you add in a series of follow-up examinations and treatments, the cost will be even higher. These examination costs are usually paid by taxpayers.

Why don’t you stop it? Doctor: I have no words to explain

Thanks to decades of public outreach, many elderly patients believe that cancer screening is necessary and want to continue getting it. So it’s difficult to dissuade them from getting tested. Mara Schonberg, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, said, “Every year you tell them to get screened, and then at age 75 you tell them not to do it. It feels inconsistent.”

Doctors often don’t want to spend time discussing whether screening is necessary, Gross says, because “it’s easier to say, ‘OK, you’re going to get a regular mammogram this year,’ than to go through the trouble of trying to convince a patient that the test won’t help them for the rest of their lives.”

Some things seem inconvenient to say. Shenberger said, “You won’t live that long, and it won’t do you any good.” It’s hard to say, “That’s not nice to hear.” She also admitted another concern, “If you don’t get checked often, people will think you don’t care or discriminate against the elderly.”

Doctors will continue to have the elderly screened for two reasons: first, many doctors are worried that they will be sued if they do not do the screening and if they do find out they have cancer. Second, if many patients are screened, doctors can get bonuses from health authorities.