Breast screening: the facts—or maybe not.
This is the summary for a evidence based patient information leaflet:
- It may be reasonable to attend for breast cancer screening with mammography, but it may also be reasonable not to attend because screening has both benefits and harms.
- If 2000 women are screened regularly for 10 years, one will benefit from the screening, as she will avoid dying from breast cancer.
- At the same time, 10 healthy women will, as a consequence, become cancer patients and will be treated unnecessarily. These women will have either a part of their breast or the whole breast removed, and they will often receive radiotherapy and sometimes chemotherapy.
- Furthermore, about 200 healthy women will experience a false alarm. The psychological strain until one knows whether it was cancer, and even afterwards, can be severe.
BMJ 2009;338:b86.