"Occasionally, a medical condition may be identified, yet it's unlikely to result in noticeable symptoms or impact the individual's quality of living."
In the latest episode of the Open Consultation podcast, hosts Salome Rita, Nuno Fox, Bruno Heleno, and Margarida Graca Santos delve into the topic of routine testing, including general tests and full-body CT scans.
The discussion centres around the potential benefits, significant risks, and the context-dependent usefulness of these tests.
Benefits of routine testing can include early detection of diseases, allowing for timely intervention and possibly better outcomes. General tests might help monitor chronic conditions or detect common problems before symptoms arise. Full-body CT scans may reveal incidental findings that could be serious and prompt further evaluation.
However, risks involve overdiagnosis, meaning detecting abnormalities that would not have caused harm, leading to unnecessary anxiety, further invasive tests, potential treatments with side effects, and increased healthcare costs. Full-body CT scans expose individuals to radiation, which carries a small but cumulative risk of cancer. Unnecessary tests can also lead to overtreatment, including surgeries or medications that may do more harm than good.
The usefulness of routine testing depends largely on the patient’s age, risk factors, and clinical symptoms. Routine testing is not always appropriate for asymptomatic individuals without risk factors, especially using broad screening tools like full-body CT scans for the general population. Testing should be individualized, focusing on questions that will genuinely inform patient care decisions rather than testing without clear indications.
Bruno Heleno and Margarida Graca Santos emphasize a balanced approach that avoids both medical overtesting that causes harm and under-testing that misses important diagnoses, advocating for thoughtful, evidence-based decisions about testing rather than routine or indiscriminate screening.
The conclusions drawn in this episode align with current medical knowledge and the general critique of routine full-body CT scanning and indiscriminate testing discussed in the wider health community. Similar concerns are expressed in other podcasts, such as the Senior Health Podcast about overtesting causing harm more than benefit in older adults.
Listeners can hear the insights of Bruno Heleno and Margarida Graca Santos by tuning into the Open Consultation podcast. Nuno Fox serves as the Sound Engineer for the podcast, while Salome Rita acts as the Podcast Coordinator. The podcast team is responsible for the production and distribution of the Open Consultation episode. It's worth noting that Bruno Heleno is also a Photojournalist.
Other therapies and treatments might be considered instead of routine testing for certain medical-conditions, as it can lead to overdiagnosis, unnecessary anxiety, and increased healthcare costs. In the context of health-and-wellness, a balance should be struck between medical overtesting and under-testing, advocating for thoughtful, evidence-based decisions that prioritize patient care and wellbeing.
