摘要：Recent years have seen a boom in literature on the subject of the ethical problems posed by "incidental findings" (IFs)."IFs have been defined as findings having potential health or reproductive importance for an individual, discovered in the course of conducting a particular study (in research, clinical care or screening) but beyond the aims of that study" [1]. Attention has focused particularly on IFs in the field of research [2].Researchers often consider it best not to reveal the existence of potentially relevant IFs to participants. Among the reasons for this approach are: the desire not to impair the rigour of scientific procedures; the desire not to fuel so-called "therapeutic misconceptions" (the erroneous belief by participants that they will benefit from participating in a trial [3]); the considerable uncertainties that often surround IFs; the fact that the researcher/participant relationship is frequently of limited duration (and researchers are thus not involved in the subsequent follow-up or therapeutic procedures).
