The next hurdle is a test's specificity. Specificity answers this question: What percentage of the people who do not have cancer are correctly identified as being free of disease? If a cancer test is not very specific, it will yield many "false positive" results; that is, a person will test positive even though they are cancer free. Such error can lead to unnecessary and costly follow-up procedures and cause anxiety in the person misdiagnosed.
![Importance of Diagnostic Test Specificity (cont.)](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090131032936im_/http://www.nci.nih.gov/images/Documents/abd6d05e-f179-4ec1-8376-6d4992583274/cancer35new.jpg)
< Previous | Index | Next Slide > |