BMJ  2003;327:101-103 (12 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7406.101

Education and debate

Women need better information about routine mammography

Hazel Thornton, honorary visiting fellow1, Adrian Edwards, reader2, Michael Baum, emeritus professor of surgery3

1 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 6TP, 2 Department of Primary Care, University of Wales Swansea Clinical School, Swansea, SA2 8PP, 3 Academic Department of Surgery, University College, London W1P 7PL

Correspondence to: H Thornton, Saionara, Rowhedge, Colchester CO5 7EA hazelcagct@aol.com

Scientists continue to argue about the benefits of breast screening, but ultimately decisions about screening should be made by women themselves. To make this decision, however, women need to fully understand both the benefits and the potential harms

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Although mammographic screening is well established in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, its value continues to be debated. Most of the data on mammographic screening come from a group of clinical trials completed over a decade ago. These are subject to constant reworking, reanalyses, and wrangling between the screening zealots and the screening sceptics. New data are unlikely to emerge, as it is improbable that new screening trials, with a control group that is "left to nature" will be conducted.

Decisions about mammographic screening should be based on all the facts

Credit: CHRIS PRIEST/SPL

Most of the controversy surrounding screening, however, seems to miss the point. The question of whether the benefits of screening outweigh the harms is essentially a value judgment. The problem is that, up to now, this judgment has been made by paternalistic agents of the state rather than by women, supported by their general practitioners or . . . [Full text of this article]


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