Continuing doubts about screening for breast cancer

"There is no reliable evidence that screening for breast cancer reduces mortality." This conclusion was published in The Lancet, the third week of October, 2001.

It confirms previous controversial analysis from researchers in Denmark. Peter Gøtzsche and Ole Olsen from the Nordic Cochrane Center, Copenhagen, did a second analysis of data from a previous study. Reporting the results in a fast-tracked Research letter, they also confirm, with additional data available on thelancet.com, their earlier finding that screening leads to more aggressive treatment, increasing the number of mastectomies by about 20% and the number of mastectomies and tumorectomies by about 30%. In many countries, women are advised to have routine screening (mammography) for breast cancer in the hope that early detection of a breast cancer and prompt treatment will lead to a cure.

Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, notes in a commentary that ". . . women should expect doctors to secure the best evidence about the value of screening mammography. At present there is no evidence from large randomised trials to support screening mammography programmes".