Europe
Breast cancer 'may be overdiagnosed'
UK study finds 19 per cent of breast cancers diagnosed would not have been harmful if left untreated.
Last Modified: 30 Oct 2012 21:29

A medical study in the UK has found that 19 per cent of breast cancers diagnosed would not have been harmful if left undiagnosed and untreated.

This could lead to healthy women having treatments like surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy which have considerable side-effects.

However, the independent panel also found that routine breast screening leads to a 20 per cent reduction in relative risk compared to no screening.

This means that one death through breast cancer being prevented for every 235 women invited for screening.

Al Jazeera’s Nadim Baba reports.

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Al Jazeera
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