Should You Get That Cancer Test?

Cancer screening saves lives, and it has been thoughtfully constructed to do so. But the version of cancer screening that some of us experience is one where nobody explains the odds, nobody mentions the alternatives, and a positive result sends you into a cascade of procedures that may or may not have been necessary. That version feels stupid.And there’s another version of screening, where someone in a 60 second video sells you the idea that the medical establishment is playing it safe and you need to take care of your own health by purchasing these additional tests…that just happen to have celebrity endorsements. That can also be stupid—with a price tag.In this episode, we sit down with Dr. TR Levin, the gastroenterologist who built one of the most effective cancer screening programs in the world. He’s the person who figured out that the best screening test isn’t the most invasive one — it’s the one people will actually do. He helps us understand how screening fits into the world of medical testing, and how we can do it better.Links:US Preventive Services Task Force