Also, for every person who gets this “advance knowldedge”, many healthy people will get false positive results – which in case of this particular test carry significant risks; and some people will get converted into cancer patients even if their “cancer” would never have spread and suffer from side effects, sometimes for lifetime, and can get their life shortened as the result. A poster above listed an estimate, but this is from only one study and from an X-rays. The numbers from a test that is able to pick up even earlier cancers are likely to be higher.

This why some evidence that CT saves lives is really important; otherwise, more people can get hurt than are helped.

Also, for every person who gets this “advance knowldedge”, many healthy people will get false positive results – which in case of this particular test carry significant risks; and some people will get converted into cancer patients even if their “cancer” would never have spread and suffer from side effects, sometimes for lifetime, and can get their life shortened as the result. A poster above listed an estimate, but this is from only one study and from an X-rays. The numbers from a test that is able to pick up even earlier cancers are likely to be higher.

This why some evidence that CT saves lives is really important; otherwise, more people can get hurt than are helped.

The date of death may be the same.
Why does this physician not realize that knowlege of what is happening in one’s own body has value?

A known life-threatening illness changes, in most cases, a person’s priorities. It allows estate planning and adjustments to expenditure and investment of resources. Events otherwise postponed by the person move to the front burner ( a marriage, a trip, a task, a purchase, etc….) – to get things done while on’es state of health allows it to be accomplished.

It can explain nagging symptoms that frustrate a patient and the patient’s family – ending denial and dismissal or suspicion of the patient as malingerer – sometimes even by the patients physician.

KNowing has value, even if it doesn’t alter the actual date of death.

I beg to differ. GE is a huge company, some extra CT scans won’t bump it’s bottom line. I would buy the radiology outsourcers, ie Nighthawk radiology (NWHK) all they do is read films. On the same theme, there’s a company in San Diego called Biosite (BSTE) that makes alot of the defensive tests we order in the ER, like Troponin and BNP.

I have no postions in any of these stocks, though my mutual funds own GE.

How many people have plaintiff’s attorneys subjected to needless evaluations in cahoots with slimeball physicians in asbestos litigation screenings? How about cardiac evaluations for fen-phen? I’m sure we could get the trial bar to fund these screening CT’s; no need to get health insurers involved.

With this attitude I can assure you to get out now. Nobody will want to see you. Forget even being a concierge at a hotel, they won’t want you either. BTW do you know how many taxpayer dollars subsidized your training?

But if chest CT is able to detect cancer even earlier, wouldn’t there be more overdiagnosis?

Also, haven’t there been studies of chest X-ray that failed to find any mortality benefit?

Just asking — too much work nowadays to look stuff up myself.

Not waking up every morning scared shitless that I’m going to end up spending 6 months being sodomized in court just for clocking in at work. Being able to get off the psych meds me and my colleagues have to take because it’s just gotten too hard to deal with the daily stress of another frivolous lawsuit for just doing our job. It’s called tort reform, but since Politicians don’t give a shit, I will keep ordering millions of dollars in useless tests. I don’t have a high powered legal team. Test ordering is my ONLY protection and defense.