Five (5) "Unnecessary" Health Tests

Most health professionals will agree that specific diagnostic tests are vital to both early detection and treatment. The problem is that some have been promoted so heavily (or advertised by companies that profit from those tests), that the tests themselves have become routinely ordered without sufficient cause.

Other problems are the costs, false results, and expensive and damaging treatment based on faulty information. This hub will cover the five most commonly over-ordered or useless tests and the reason each may not only be unnecessary, but at times, dangerous.

The hub will also discuss which test results can lead to dangerous and devastating "cures."

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Last week the task force released a report, with recommendations that women need mammograms far less frequently. Stating that regular breast-cancer screening should start at age fifty rather than forty. The task force also recommended these screenings be conducted every two years rather than annually.

Cited in the report is reference to data showing that mammograms beginning at age forty rarely saves lives, often leads to misdiagnosis, and can even detect a benign tumor or one growing too slowly to worry about.

This has lead to unnecessary anxiety and often debilitating and unnecessary treatment.

Prostate Cancer Screening (PSA test):
The PSA blood chemistry test looks for a prostate-specific antigen. This is a protein produced by the prostate gland. If high levels are detected they are sometimes associated with prostate cancer.

Unfortunately the prescience of an antigen is not a solid indicator of cancer. Even if the antigen levels do indicate cancer the antigen provides no indication of whether the tumor is benign or malignant. Of the almost twenty (20%) percent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer, only about three (3%) percent die from it.

This test usually leads to over-diagnosis, biopsies, and treatment. Aggressive treatment often produces impotence and incontinence as side-effect. Hardly the type of problems one would associate with a cure.

DEXA: Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry is a diagnostic tool that measures bone mineral density. The scans were thought to determine bone strength and signs of osteopenia (a precursor to osteoporosis).

The problem is there are definite limitations in the test. Measurements can be wildly different from scan to scan with the same person. Worse, each machine can be calibrated differently. The main problem is that DEXA cannot measure the collagen-to-mineral ratio. This ratio is far more predictive of problems than bone density alone.

Also, high bone mineral content does not predict stronger bones. For example a high bone density might be present in someone with weak bones.

For a test that starts at $1,000, people may find this a means of spotting problems before they become debilitating. The thinking, of course, is that a full-body CT scan will find every possible thing wrong with you.

The problem is that companies that offer these scans don't typically pay for first-rate, well trained diagnosticians. This in turn means that the tests themselves are almost worthless. A scan could certainly find something abnormal, but since the operators are not trained radiologists, they will have no way of telling if it's a minor abnormality or something serious.

Worse, since special contrast agents aren't used during these tests scans are very likely to miss something of real concern...like a tumor or damaged organ.

The end result is that you are out a significant dollar amount with no clear benefit. The fault here is not with the CT technology, but with the companies that market this as preventative medicine without actually paying for the expertise to make a reliable determination.

The home menopause may be tempting to those who have used and marveled at the accuracy of the home pregnancy test. The test measures levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in the urine. The problem is the kit does not provide a reliable measurement of this hormone. Additionally the presence of this hormone is not a good indicator of menopause onset.

Perhaps worst of all FSH levels change on a daily basis making the hormone level itself highly unreliable in determining anything. This may seem like an a minor thing, but many women use a test like this to determine if they should stop their birth control regimen.

Imagine ending your birth-control prescription based on a faulty menopause test. An unwanted pregnancy could certainly be the result.

This test is as faulty as the Home Menopause Test. Believe it or not it's a scratch-and-sniff test. According to the manufacturer it is useful because loss of smell is one of the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

Though there is some truth to this claim, anosmia (a loss of smell) is a very rare symptom of both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease...very rare indeed. Worse, most anosmics don't have a degenerative brain disease. What the test may indicate is that someone has lost part or all of their sense of smell....and that's all.

Serious research into anosmia as an early indicator is ongoing, but it is hardly at a stage where it can be used as an indicator of a serious health issue let alone brain disorders.