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Screening

Is breast cancer overdiagnosed?

Jørgensen and Gøtzsche quantified the degree of overdiagnosis of breast cancer in five publicly organized mammography screening programs in different parts of the world. Overall, they estimated a total degree of breast cancer (including carcinoma in situ) overdiagnosis of 52%, while overdiagnosis for invasive breast cancer was 35%, a finding with potential implications for both clinical practice and public health.

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Correspondence to Andrea Veronesi.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Veronesi, A., Serraino, D. Is breast cancer overdiagnosed?. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 6, 682–683 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2009.172

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