Breast Cancer Screening 'More Harm Than Good'

Breast cancer screening in the UK may be causing women more harm than good, according to a new study.
The screening programme costs £96m a year and now some doctors are saying the money would be better spent on other treatments.
The report also backs up previous research suggesting women taking part in NHS screening are being misinformed about the harms of over-diagnosis.
But a spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "Our advice has not changed - we urge all women to go for breast screening when invited.
"The best available evidence shows that screening saves lives by detecting cancers earlier than they would otherwise have been.
"We know that some scientists differ in their views towards screening so, in order to find consensus, we have asked the national cancer director Professor Sir Mike Richards, to commission a review of the evidence in partnership with Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK.
"An independent panel of experts who have never published on breast screening before is being put together to carry out the review."
The new study led by James Raftery, professor of health technology assessment at the University of Southampton, found the majority of women who have a breast removed to avoid cancer, did not need surgery in the first place.
Experts found women may be likely to be harmed by the programme and undergo unnecessary surgery, especially in the first decade of being screened.
Published in the British Medical Journal, the new study examined data from the 1986 Forrest report, which led to the introduction of breast cancer screening in the UK.
It determined the benefits of screening in terms of quality adjusted life years (Qalys) - a measure of quantity and quality of life.
In the new analysis, Prof Raftery and his colleague Maria Chorozoglou included estimates of the risk of women being harmed, which were not included in the Forrest report.
Harms include false positives (abnormal results that turn out to be normal) and over-treatment (treatment or surgery on harmless cancers that would never have caused symptoms or death during a patient's lifetime).
The new research found that once harms were included, the Qaly benefits in terms of lives saved was only 1,500 Qalys after 20 years - half the figures quoted in Forrest.
And, in the first few years of screening, women were, on average, more likely to be harmed than to see any benefit.
Prof Raftery said: "At up to eight years, the harms generally outweigh the benefits but at 20 years there are greater positive benefits.
"Nevertheless, either way, the benefit to patients is less than was stated in Forrest."
He went on: "There are lots of women who have had surgery who believe their lives were saved when in fact only around one in 10 have had their life saved.
"It's very tricky because if you are a woman invited for screening, the harms are up-front in the first few years while the benefits take a lot longer to kick in. It will take at least five years of screening before a life is saved."
Women aged 50 and over are invited for breast cancer screening every three years.
The programme, which costs around £96m a year in England, is currently being extended to include all women aged 47 to 73