Some relevant information about this subject has recently been published in the BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal) - see http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/339/jul09_1/b2587 - be sure to read the responses to the article, particularly "Breast Cancer Overdiagnosis May Increase All-Cause Mortality ". The articles demonstrate an overdiagnosis rate of about 50%, showing that huge numbers of women are treated for breast cancer when they actually had a harmless, benign condition. The response cited above comments on the possible reasons that cancer screening has never been shown to save lives - not one single study has ever shown an overall mortality benefit. Cancer treatment is grueling and can shorten life, and because so many people are treated needlessly there is no mortality benefit to screening. Please consider this when you write about "lifesaving benefits" - there ARE NO lifesaving benefits, difficult as this may be to comprehend. And please, if you have been treated for cancer found via mammography, realize that you may not have needed treatment at all, and it is simply not possible to say whose life was saved and who was treated when they shouldn't have been. All survivors are told how lucky they were that their cancer was found - we now know that this may not be true at all.
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Some relevant information about this subject has recently been published in the BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal) - see http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/339/jul09_1/b2587 - be sure to read the responses to the article, particularly "Breast Cancer Overdiagnosis May Increase All-Cause Mortality ". The articles demonstrate an overdiagnosis rate of about 50%, showing that huge numbers of women are treated for breast cancer when they actually had a harmless, benign condition. The response cited above comments on the possible reasons that cancer screening has never been shown to save lives - not one single study has ever shown an overall mortality benefit. Cancer treatment is grueling and can shorten life, and because so many people are treated needlessly there is no mortality benefit to screening. Please consider this when you write about "lifesaving benefits" - there ARE NO lifesaving benefits, difficult as this may be to comprehend. And please, if you have been treated for cancer found via mammography, realize that you may not have needed treatment at all, and it is simply not possible to say whose life was saved and who was treated when they shouldn't have been. All survivors are told how lucky they were that their cancer was found - we now know that this may not be true at all.
August 2, 2009 - 1:42pmThis Comment
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