Accepting the Existence of Breast Cancer Overdiagnosis

Editorials7 March 2017Accepting the Existence of Breast Cancer OverdiagnosisOtis W. Brawley, MDOtis W. Brawley, MDFrom American Cancer Society, Atlanta, Georgia.Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M16-2850 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Jørgensen and colleagues (1) compare breast cancer incidence and death rates in several areas of Denmark where screening was introduced at various times in the 1990s. Although the incidence of localized disease increased with the introduction of screening, the incidence of advanced disease has not decreased. They estimate that screen-detected breast tumors have an overdiagnosis rate of 14.7% to 38.6% (excluding ductal carcinoma in situ). This is the latest of several studies using various methods and data sets to show that the phenomenon of overdiagnosis exists in breast cancer. 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