By Cristina Roure @crouren
The BMJ recently published the results of a randomized Canadian study which shows that annual mammography in asymptomatic women under 60 does not bring any advantage in reducing mortality from breast cancer compared with physical examination without mammography and, instead, it leads to more than 20% over diagnosis. The article is accompanied by an editorial entitled "Too much mamography" which suggests the need to rethink the breast screening policies as it has done with PSA screening in the case of prostate cancer.
It can be somewhat counterintuitive to think that a test that can detect cancer early and therefore provide the opportunity to treat it early, does not reduce mortality, but often not only the citizens but also the professionals have difficulty interpreting the benefits and risks of screenings and to communicate them clearly to patients when making the decision to participate or not in the program. Gerd Gigerenzer, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin explains it very well in his book Calculated Risks. How to know when numbers deceive you1.
The BMJ recently published the results of a randomized Canadian study which shows that annual mammography in asymptomatic women under 60 does not bring any advantage in reducing mortality from breast cancer compared with physical examination without mammography and, instead, it leads to more than 20% over diagnosis. The article is accompanied by an editorial entitled "Too much mamography" which suggests the need to rethink the breast screening policies as it has done with PSA screening in the case of prostate cancer.
