After two years of intense consideration, a task force of over 200 medical oncologists from the American Society of Clinical Oncology(ASCO) has recommended that the US medical system end five commonly prescribed cancer tests because they were either not supported by medical evidence or were simply cost-prohibitive and did not offer enough in the way of patient care and value.
Oncologists from the ASCO made the recommendations as part of an eight-specialty group within the "Choosing Wisely" campaign, organized by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation and Consumer Reports magazine.
The five recommendations are below, and more information on each can be found at the "Choosing Wisely" page (which opens as a PDF):
1. Don’t use cancer-directed therapy for solid tumor patients with the following characteristics: low performance status (3 or 4), no benefit from prior evidence-based interventions, not eligible for a clinical trial, and no strong evidence supporting the clinical value of further anticancer treatment.
2. Don’t perform PET, CT, and radionuclide bone scans in the staging of early prostate cancer at low risk for metastasis.
3. Don’t perform PET, CT, and radionuclide bone scans in the staging of early breast cancer at low risk for metastasis.
4. Don’t perform surveillance testing (biomarkers) or imaging (PET, CT, and radionuclide bone scans) for asymptomatic individuals who have been treated for breast cancer with curative intent.
5. Don’t use white cell stimulating factors for primary prevention of febrile neutropenia for patients with less than 20 percent risk for this complication
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