Overdiagnosis in breast cancer screening

The purpose of breast cancer screening is to reduce breast cancer mortality. In order to achieve this purpose, an X-ray search—a mammography examination—is made of the breast tissue of healthy women to detect potential cancers that have not given rise to symptoms. With early detection, a woman with breast cancer can be offered a more efficient treatment than it would otherwise had been possible. If screening works, women with screen-detected breast cancer will have a better prognosis than women diagnosed with symptoms of breast cancer.