Breast Cancer Screening: Do the Risks Outweigh the Expected Benefits?

Breast Cancer Screening

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Breast cancer screening: do the risks outweigh the expected benefits?
As a form of breast cancer awareness, breast self-examination was introduced among women where they were urged to conduct the same so as to establish any unusual changes in their breasts. Over the years, the sensitivity and efficiency of breast self-examination were questioned. The American Cancer Society (2016) argued that breast self-examination produced high levels of anxiety in many women and that it provided no clear benefits to the patients.
For this reason, the method is being replaced by mammography and breast magnetic resonance imaging. Instead of breast self-examination, the American Cancer Society encourages women to practice breast awareness so as to notice any physical changes (American Cancer Society, 2016). As advanced methods of breast screening, magnetic resonance imaging and mammography are preferred since they can detect cancer early even before the formation of a lump.
Despite this advantage, research shows that there are various risks associated with breast cancer screening and breast cancer risk is an important consideration in the application of screening guidelines (Suzanne M. Mahon, 2012). Mammography, for instance, can produce inaccurate results which could either be false positives or false negatives. Another risk is overtreatment by detecting and removing cancers that may have possibly been harmless if l...