Panel proposes changing definition of cancer

 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57596055/panel-proposes-changing-definition-of-cancer/

Few things are as frightening for a patient to hear from a doctor as the word "cancer," but on Monday, a panel of experts advising the National Cancer Institute proposed changing the definition of cancer, eliminating it entirely for some illnesses.
There's no question that screening for cancer has saved a lot of lives. The problem is that it's also picked up a lot of abnormalities that may never have caused any problem.
The authors gave two examples. One is a breast biopsy lesion called DCIS, or ductal carcinoma in situ -- stage 0 breast cancer. By itself, it doesn't harm a woman, but in some cases it goes on to invasive breast cancer. They want to get rid of the word "carcinoma."
Then there is an abnormal prostate biopsy called high grade PIN, which is a kind of a neoplasia, or an abnormal tissue growth. Sometimes it goes on to prostate cancer; sometimes it doesn't. But in the vast majority of men, even if you go on to get prostate cancer, it doesn't kill, so they want to get rid of the word neoplasia.