A Cancer Diagnosis Is Not Always Accurate: Doctor Offers Tips to Fight Fear with Facts

About two million Americans receive a cancer diagnosis each year. When that happens, it can be natural to not only feel anxious but to even assume the worst. At the same time, there are practical steps you can take to confront those fears and get all the facts.

However, cancer specialist Mikkael Sekeres, M.D., M.S., Chief of the Division of Hematology at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami School of Medicine, and author of the book, When Blood Breaks Down: Life Lessons from Leukemia, told CBN News far too many patients jump to conclusions.  

For example, when a primary care physician shows concern about a lump in the breast or an elevated PSA, they may mention the possibility of cancer and recommend tests. At this point, Dr. Sekeres recommends patients get a biopsy from a cancer specialist because that's usually the most accurate way to diagnose the disease. Oftentimes, when cancer is suspected, a biopsy reveals the initial concern turns out to be something else. 

"One study for people who had swollen lymph nodes that were suspected to be cancer actually found that only 17% of those people, when they went to an oncologist, got a formal diagnosis of cancer," he said.

If the biopsy indicates cancer, Dr. Sekeres recommends getting a second opinion, specifically from a doctor who focuses on that type of cancer. Part of his reasoning is that a second opinion dramatically downgraded his own mother-in-law's diagnosis.

"He retested her for everything. And it turns out she didn't have stage three lung cancer, lung cancer that had spread. She had stage one, confined to one area," he said, adding she is alive and well seven years since then.  

Research shows that experience is rather common. 

"There was disagreement 20 percent of the time," he said. "So one out of five people received the wrong diagnosis from their local pathologist, and that resulted in the wrong treatment 7 percent of the time." 

Dr. Sekeres recommends a patient bring along a family member or friend to doctor appointments to help take notes on what's said. That's because studies show memory often fails us. 

"When recall for information about treatment and side effects was assessed in 69 older adults with cancer, respondents were correct only 23 percent of the time," he said. 

Dr. Sekeres also advises people to proceed with extreme caution when getting medical information online, especially from social media. 

"Another study concluded that 67 percent, so two-thirds of cancer information, that was shared on social media was accurate. But one-third was inaccurate," he said.

So while cancer can be a big deal, follow the expert's advice, and make sure you have a reliable diagnosis before getting too concerned, and keep in mind many cancers are survivable. 

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