• Rationale and Comments

    Due to high mortality among end-stage renal disease patients, routine cancer screening—including mammography, colonoscopy, prostate-specific antigen, and Pap smears—in dialysis patients with limited life expectancy, such as those who are not transplant candidates, is not cost-effective and does not improve survival. False-positive tests can cause harm: unnecessary procedures, overtreatment, misdiagnosis, and increased stress. An individualized approach to cancer screening incorporating patients’ cancer risk factors, expected survival, and transplant status is required.

    Sponsoring Organizations

    • American Society of Nephrology

    Sources

    • American Society of Nephrology

    Disciplines

    • Nephrologic
    • Oncologic
    • Preventive Medicine

    References

    • U.S. Renal Data System. http://www.usrds.org.
    • American Society of Nephrology
    • American Society of Transplantation
    • Archives of Internal Medicine
    • Seminars in Dialysis