Breast screening advice

Controversy about the risks and benefits of breast screening has been on the news in the last couple of days. The debate is about whether screening does more harm than good. An independent review published in the Lancet - click here for the summary, has concluded that for every life saved from breast screening, three women had treatment for cancer that would never have been fatal.

Currently women aged 47 to 70 are invited every three years to have a mammogram that helps to detect early breast cancer in the hope that early treatment is more successful. And indeed it is because women who have a screen detected breast cancer are almost always cured. That is the really good news.

But on the other hand if a women goes for screening they have a 1% risk of being over diagnosed and there is debate as to whether the number of women who are treated unnecessarily for every life saved is higher than three. Some critics have said that it might be as high as ten. To read more about this click here for clear information from the BBC.

And of course if you are still confused come and speak to your GP!


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