With proper precautions, the risk of a day at work, a ride on the bus, or a workout at the gym may be acceptable, write Yale SOM’s Arthur J. Swersey and his co-authors. But that risk compounds dramatically when an activity is repeated day after day.

A new study led by Yale SOM’s Arthur J. Swersey, using decision analysis techniques, finds that increasing the number of biopsy needles and using probability modeling to analyze the results can help prevent unnecessary treatment while identifying dangerous cancers.