Study: One In Three Breast Cancer Treatments Unnecessary

Americans have come recently to the table, but across the pond, the debate over the value of screening for breast cancer has been raging for years. Now comes a study from the Nordic Cochrane Centre, in Copenhagen, arguing that there is “no convincing evidence” that screening
has saved the 1,400 lives a year that are alleged  by British health ministries. The Times of London reports that the study's authors assert that improvements in breast cancer survival have more to do with
improvements in treatment, rather than detection through screening; The authors argue that many  women may have had
benign conditions “overdiagnosed” by doctors and consequently endured grueling
surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy.The lead author of the Cochrane review estimates that more than 21,000 women
aged 50 to 69 had breast cancer diagnosed in Britain in 2007. He also estimates that one in three of the cancers diagnosed could be “unnecessary” diagnoses of benign ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). If only the treatment were benign.

Read more in the Times of London.