Overdiagnosis in breast screening, but lives are saved
May 10, 2010
Posted by:Suzanne Trask
Some cancers grow so slowly that a woman may die from another disease first while other cancers would cause no harm. Experts are currently unable to distinguish between these less harmful cancers and some more aggressive types, meaning they are all routinely treated. The Guardian reports on research out today confirming that for every case of overdiagnosis, two lives are saved as a result of the NHS breast cancer screening programme. The issue has been the subject of debate recently after other studies suggested the programme does little to save lives. Last week, Danish experts cast doubt on the benefits of mammography saying there were few differences in death rates between women who are screened and those who are not screened. The latest research was led by experts from the Wolfson Institute for Preventive Medicine at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.It focused on data from some 80,000 women from the age of 50 and looked at Sweden and England before and after the introduction of screening. It found 5.7 deaths from breast cancer were prevented for every 1,000 women screened over 20 years in England. The number of estimated cases of overdiagnosis was 2.3 per 1,000 women over the same period.