If, after this careful assessment and discussion, a woman’s breast cancer risk is not high, current evidence indicates that the benefit of screening mammography is small. Furthermore, for this age group there is a greater risk of false-positive screening results and consequently of undergoing unnecessary or harmful follow-up procedures. As always, clinicians need to be aware of changes in the balance of evidence on risk and benefit and support women in understanding this evidence. High ...
Because Canada is located above the 35° North latitude, the average Canadian’s exposure to sunlight is insufficient to maintain adequate Vitamin D levels, especially during the winter. Therefore, measuring serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels is not necessary because routine supplementation with Vitamin D is appropriate for the general population. An exception is made for measuring Vitamin D levels in patients with significant renal or metabolic disease.
There is no convincing evidence that oral bacteria from dental procedures cause infections of the following devices at any time after implantation: pacemakers; implantable defibrillators; ventriculoatrial shunts; devices for patent ductus arteriosus, atrial septal defect, and ventricular septal defect occlusion; peripheral vascular stents; prosthetic vascular grafts; hemodialysis shunts; coronary artery stents; dacron parotid patches; chronic indwelling central venous catheters.
There is little evidence to indicate there is value in routine blood tests in asymptomatic patients; instead, this practice is more likely to produce false positive results that may lead to additional unnecessary testing. The decision to perform screening tests, and the selection of which tests to perform, should be done with careful consideration of the patient’s age, sex and any possible risk factors.
• Don’t do screening Pap smears annually in women with previously normal results
• Don’t do Pap smears in women who have had a hysterectomy for non-malignant disease
The potential harm from screening women younger than 21 years of age outweighs the benefits and there is little evidence
to suggest the necessity of conducting this test annually when previous test results were normal. Women who have had a full
hysterectomy for benign disorders no longer require this screening. Screening ...