Medical Tests & Procedures Archive

Breast cancer risk assessment scores can enable clinicians to estimate a woman’s risk of developing invasive breast cancer over the next five years, as well as her lifetime risk. The tools ask users about myriad factors that influence breast cancer risk. But risk calculators don’t necessarily provide the kind of precision and insight some women seek. A risk score can’t tell a woman for certain whether she will or won’t develop breast cancer. Risk calculators typically also don’t determine when or how often most women should seek mammograms.

Radiation from diagnostic tests has the potential to damage tissue in the body, including cell DNA. Rarely, that can cause cell mutations that lead to cancer 10 or 20 years later. The long-term cancer risk from standard x-rays is considered very low; the risk from computed tomography (CT) scans might be higher. If a doctor orders a CT scan for someone who recently had that same type of scan, the patient should ask what the results might show, whether they’ll affect treatment, and whether an alternative test can be substituted.

In May 2025, the FDA approved the first blood test to detect the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The test looks for several proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease. About 80% of the time, the blood test is either highly positive or highly negative, a result that’s accurate more than 90% of the time. Doctors expect that the test will soon be covered by insurance. If that happens, the test will become the standard of care for people ages 55 and older with Alzheimer’s signs or symptoms.

Havard researchers have identified biomarkers that appear to capture tinnitus severity for the first time. Scientists made the connection after analyzing the facial responses and pupil dilation of study participants as they listened to pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant sounds. The findings, when fed to a computer model, accurately predicted the severity of symptoms participants had reported on questionnaires. Scientists hope the biomarkers will lead to tools that gauge tinnitus severity and treatment effectiveness.

The four types of anesthesia include local anesthesia, regional anesthesia, monitored anesthesia, and general anesthesia. Before getting anesthesia, one should ask the doctor which type of anesthesia will be administered, what its risks are, and if delirium is a high risk. One should also ask how to prepare for anesthesia in the days leading up to a procedure—whether medications might need to be temporarily halted, when to stop eating or drinking before surgery, and whether to schedule measures to help reduce delirium.

Men on active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer might need treatment if their PSA levels start to rise. Doctors also measure PSA to check for recurring cancer in men who were already treated with surgery or radiation. But use of the test in such cases differs in important ways.

Every year, millions of men around the world get a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. Abnormal readings on the test suggest a man might have prostate cancer. But how should an abnormal result be interpreted?

High-resolution micro-ultrasound may be an efficient alternative to using MRI plus conventional ultrasound to guide prostate biopsies, according to a 2025 study. The micro-ultrasound method proved as accurate as MRI guidance, but requires fewer visits and costs less.

Direct-to-consumer genetic tests can screen for rare heart conditions that arise from variants in a single gene (such as cardiomyopathies) as well as common conditions influenced by many thousands of gene variants (such as coronary artery disease). But because the results are not definitive, they can be challenging to interpret.

For men who choose prostate cancer screening, it begins with measuring prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. Scientists continue to explore strategies beyond PSA testing to identify men who should have biopsies because they are more likely to have intermediate or high-risk cancer. These strategies include other types of PSA measurements, urine tests for genes, new imaging methods and artificial intelligence that works to improve the accuracy and efficiency of MRI and biopsies.