Physicians take Dr. Siegel to task for his baseless, emotional support of CT scans for lung cancer screening. Apparently, he doesn’t believe in evidence-based medicine. Money quote: “the plural of anecdote is not data.“
If physicians don’t believe in the evidence, how can we convince the public?
Most importantly, he also neglects to take the downside risks of screening into account: False-positives are indeed common, and the diagnostic biopsies and needless major surgeries for benign or indolent nodules are not only costly but also emotionally devastating and (in about one in 20 cases) result in severe or even fatal complications. Merely asserting that “my patients want to know if they have cancer” is not a valid way to deal with this frustrating puzzle.
