Screening for breast cancer

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7540.499

BMJ 2006;332:499-500 (4 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7540.499

Editorial

Screening for breast cancer

Time to accept that, despite limitations, it does save lives

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

Few topics in medicine have been the subject of so much debateand controversy as breast screening by mammography. The valueof screening in reducing mortality has been questioned not onlyby sceptics¹ but also by those involved in setting up and runningscreening programmes.^{2 3} The latest addition to the debate isa report published last week by the Advisory Committee on BreastScreening, summarising results from the English breast screeningprogramme.⁴ Although the authors are respected members of the"breast scientific community," they cannot be considered tobe independent because they are involved in the delivery andorganisation of the programme. What does the report tell usabout the current status of breast screening?

Many of the early breast screening trials have been criticisedbecause groups, rather than individuals, were randomised. In2000 Gøtzsche and Olsen excluded trials that randomisedgroups of women from their analysis and found . . . [Full text of this article]

J Michael Dixon, consultant breast surgeon

Edinburgh Breast Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU
(mike.dixon@ed.ac.uk)

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Rapid Responses:

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bmj.com, 4 Mar 2006 [Full text]
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