The New (and Controversial) Way of Treating Cancer

We’re familiar with the typical ways in which modern medicine aggressively detects and treats malignant growths — invasive biopsies, multiple applications of radiation, long-term chemotherapy, and surgery, if the tumor is isolated and in an easily accessible area.

There is one cancer specialist, however, who believes treatment should move in the opposite direction — opting for fewer screenings and less invasive, aggressive treatments — since cancer today, he says, is overdiagnosed and overtreated. Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, professor at Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, and a nationally recognized expert on early cancer detection, challenges commonly-held beliefs and explains the latest findings with respect to cancer biology in his book, Should I be Tested for Cancer? Maybe Not and Here’s Why.

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