The risk of breast cancer overdiagnosis
Breast screening saves lives, but one of its challenges is ‘overdiagnosis’ – finding and treating cancers that may never have caused harm.
Some cancers cause no harm
A very small number of cancers don’t lead to symptoms or death. In fact, people with these cancers may never know they have them unless they get tested.
One downside of population screening is that it can detect cancers that would never have caused any harm. And when a cancer that wouldn’t have led to any serious health issues is found and treated, it’s called ‘overdiagnosis’.
The benefits far outweigh the risks
The challenge, however, is that there’s currently no way of knowing which cancers will become life-threatening and which won’t.
What we do know is that without treatment, breast cancer will usually lead to illness and death.
We support research that may soon help us tell the difference between life-threatening cancers and those that won’t cause harm. So, for now, the best way to lower your risk of dying from breast cancer is to have a breast screen every 2 years.
Read Cancer Australia’s position on overdiagnosis from breast screening
Read the Australian Government’s ‘Population-based Screening Framework’