Cancer over-diagnosis a risk in breast screening.

Australian Doctor,  March, 2006  

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By Rebecca Jenkins

BMJ Screening women for breast cancer may result in a 10% over-diagnosis rate and possibly overtreatment, researchers suggest.

Data from a major Swedish breast screening trial were used to analyse the rate of over-diagnosis -- those cases where the cancer would not have come to clinical attention without screening. This may be because women have died shortly after the diagnosis from an unrelated cause or the cancer would never have become symptomatic.

Researchers tracked survival and breast cancer detection rates for 15 years after the trial ended in ...

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