Die Beurteilung des Nutzens von Screening-Untersuchungen

Journal/Book: Die Medizinische Welt. 1991; 42: 726-732.

Abstract: Primary and secondary prevention is a field of growing interest. One part of secondary prevention consists of screening measures to detect certain diseases in early stages. The evaluation of the use of screening measures is demonstrated with three different screening tests to illustrate different points of view- resting electrocardiography, occult blood testing and mammography. Concerning the resting electrocardiography it is argued, that there is no evidence for a benefit of treating asymptomatic people and, consequently, no indication for screening. The occult blood test, used for the screening of colorectal cancer, is an unreliable instrument, the use of it causes high amounts of false negative and false positive results. The evidence that the wide-spread use of mammography for the detection of early breast cancer saves more lives than causes deaths is questionable. .It is concluded that careful evaluation of screening measures is needed, that the r(results yet are disappointing and that caution against the wide-spread use of such measures seems to be justified.

Keyword(s): Screening

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