According to a recent letter in The Times, many healthy women in this country are receiving unnecessary surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The 23 signatories say that the Government is not providing women with all the facts when they go for breast screening and they cite research by Peter Gøtzsche of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen in support of their claims. Gøtzsche says that half of all detected breast cancers – if left to their own devices - might not do any harm to the patient during her natural lifespan. So, are we in danger of over diagnosing breast cancer in women who might otherwise not have developed life threatening symptoms?
Jenni is joined by Professor Stephen Duffy, Professor of Breast Screening at Barts Hospital, London and by Dr Paul Pharoah, Senior Clinical Research Fellow in the Department of Oncology at the University of Cambridge.
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