Whether breast cancer screening does more harm than good has been debated extensively. An independent Panel from the UK was convened to reach conclusions about the benefits and harms of breast screening based on the review of published work and oral and written evidence presented by experts in the subject. In this article, a summary of the full report on the Panel’s findings and conclusions are provided.
The main questions in breast cancer screening are how large the benefit of screening is in terms of reduced mortality and how substantial the harm is in terms of overdiagnosis, which is defined as cancers detected at screening that would not have otherwise become clinically apparent in the woman’s lifetime. The effect of breast screening on mortality Measurement of benefit The aim of screening is to advance the time of diagnosis so that prognosis can be improved by earlier intervention.…
