Letters
Incidental findings
Changing the implied consent model for investigations is not easy
BMJ 2021; 374 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1940 (Published 04 August 2021) Cite this as: BMJ 2021;374:n1940- Santhanam Sundar, consultant oncologist
- Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK
- sundar{at}oncology.org
Lessing highlights the significant distress that can result from unexpected incidental findings on follow-up imaging.1
Unnecessary distress can be caused by expected but unwanted findings, since early detection of disease relapse, at an asymptomatic stage, is not always beneficial. For example, a Cochrane meta-analysis found that more intensive follow‐up of cancer survivors made little or no difference …
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