Study indicated 1 out of 3 Cases of Breast Cancer are Over Treated

This is an interesting report as we are all advised to be screened, but I believe the point of the study is to indicate that advanced stages of breast cancer are declining and some did not end up needing treatment at all with perhaps a very slow growing form or tiny spot of cancer. Screening can help keep an eye on the issue for future treatments. A study found similar results for prostate cancer as well, that 2 out of 5 cases found via screening were not a threat as the cancer cells or tumors were very slow growing. In either case, the more screenings that are done, more cases will be found. BD

LONDON—One in three breast cancer patients identified in public screening programs may be treated unnecessarily, a new study says. Karsten Jorgensen and Peter Gotzsche of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen analyzed breast cancer trends at least seven years before and after government-run screening programs for breast cancer started in parts of Australia, Britain, Canada, Norway and Sweden.

Overall, Jorgensen and Gotzsche found that one third of the women identified as having breast cancer didn't actually need to be treated.

Some cancers never cause symptoms or death, and can grow too slowly to ever affect patients. As it is impossible to distinguish between those and deadly cancers, any identified cancer is treated. But the treatments can have harmful side-effects and be psychologically scarring.

Experts said overtreatment occurs wherever there is widespread cancer screening, including the U.S.

Britain's national health system recently ditched its pamphlet inviting women to get screened for breast cancer, after critics complained it did not explain the overtreatment problem.

Study: 1 in 3 breast cancer patients overtreated - Boston.com