Toshiba device tests cancer types from a drop of blood

Re:Toshiba device tests cancer types from a drop of blood by astura on Monday November 25, 2019 @06:18PM (#21633949)

I'd suggest reading these to get a better idea of the potential harms of screening tests in the asymptomatic population:

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/a-skeptical-look-at-screeni...

https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the_screening_test_t...

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-case-against-early-...

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Re:Toshiba device tests cancer types from a drop of blood by BiteCode_dev on Monday November 25, 2019 @06:33PM (#21634089)

This is true for any medical act you perform on a massive scale really. Including vaccination, supplementation, etc. Everything is a cost/benefit ratio.

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Re:Toshiba device tests cancer types from a drop of blood by tptacek on Monday November 25, 2019 @06:58PM (#21634270)

Yes, and this math has been done on many of those interventions (certainly for vaccination) and the benefit holds up. That statistical base rates are problematic for cancer detection is a pretty well-understood problem.

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