BMJ: There is an assumption that following up people with symptoms which are low risk but no risk of cancer will improve cancer pick up. But experts writing in The BMJ today say that we do not know whether this approach works. Nor, do we understand the best way to do it. Patients visit their doctor every day about symptoms that could be cancer. Some will have easily recognised high risk symptoms such as difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) or coughing up blood (haemoptysis). But most will have vague or non - specific symptoms like cough, fatigue, or abdominal pain, where the likelihood of cancer is low . Faced with this uncertainty, doctors have a responsibility to avoid causing unnecessary alarm and wasting scarce resources through over - investigation, which may re sult in harm to the patient.
