The Breast Cancer Overdiagnosis Conundrum: An Oncologist's Viewpoint

Controversy about the appropriate age to begin and thefrequency of mammography screening for breast can-cer has been ongoing. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has recommended that screening begin at an older age and at longer intervals than had been previ-ously recommended (1). The change was prompted by evaluation of reports that screening mammography as cur-rently practiced in the United States is associated with needless work-ups and attendant complications, resulting in the Task Force’s conclusion that the harms outweigh the benefits for women aged 40 to 49 years and that screening could be reduced to every other year for women aged 50 to 59 years. Research studies have found progression to invasive breast cancer in 14 % to 53 % of cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) treated with biopsy alone, depending on