Diagnosis
Reliable and Safe Diagnostic Procedures
Another problem with diagnosis is that it may be inaccurate! Many cancer tests have false positive (and false negative) results, meaning that you are diagnosed as having cancer but actually do not (mammograms, prostate specific antigen tests, etc). Always get a second and even third opinion or test.
Recommendations for testing and treatment after diagnosis often vary depending on the training of the physician (U.S, French, German, Japanese, etc.) and the type of physician (surgeon, oncologist, etc.). For an excellent discussion of this problem see the relevant chapter in the book Choices in Healing by Lerner.
Try to avoid invasive or radioactive tests where possible since often the test itself can cause a cancer to spread (biopsies) or can weaken the immune response of the system. An example is mammography versus breast thermography which is much less traumatic and more accurate (see http://www.breastthermography.com/). Unfortunately, so far there is no such diagnostic center in Egypt. However, women have the option of breast self examination (BSE) which can be trained following instruction by trained nurses and/or annual clinical breast examinations (CBE). That these two methods are superior to dangerous mammographies is argued by Dr. S. Epstein in the articles Report on Breast Examination and Dangers and Unreliability of Mammography: Breast Examination is a Safe, Effective, and Practical Alternative.