Widespread false-positive results from cancer screening tests result in
extra medical costs exceeding $1,000, Detroit researchers said in a
study.

Among 1,087 individuals participating in a cancer screening trial who
received a battery of tests for prostate, ovarian, colorectal and lung
cancer, 43 percent had at least one false positive test result, said Dr.
Jennifer Elston Lafata, director of the Center for Health Services
Research at the Henry Ford Health System and lead author on the study.

Men who incurred a false positive result for prostate, lung or
colorectal cancer averaged $1,171 in additional medical care
expenditures compared to men with all negative screens. More than half,
51 percent, of the men in the study had at least one false positive
test.

For women, 36 percent had false positive screening results. Women with a
false positive screen for ovarian, colorectal or lung cancer experienced
$1,024 more in follow-up medical care expenses compared to women with
all negative results.

The study is published in the December issue of Cancer Epidemiology,
Biomarkers & Prevention.

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc