Can scans do more harm than good?

THOUSANDS of women will now face the dilemma of whether to go for catchup breast screening.

Those aged 72 or over will be given the option of screening and encouraged to call a helpline to help them decide.

This is because for older women, screening can do more harm than good by picking up harmless tumours. Debate rages over screening’s effectiveness.

Some 99 per cent of women diagnosed with breast cancer at the earliest stage survive for at least five years – compared with around 15 per cent for those with the most advanced stage cancer.

But growing evidence suggests screening causes problems too. Some experts fear women are subjected to over-treatment, including needless breast removal and surgery on harmless cancers, as a result.

A review in 2012 found that, while screening saved lives, it led to 4,000 women enduring needless surgery for tumours that would not have caused them harm.

Danish experts from the Nordic Cochrane Centre concluded screening led to a 30 per cent higher risk of surgery, much of it unnecessary.

University College London’s Professor Michael Baum, one of the architects of the screening programme, has since called for it to be shut down, arguing screening leads to healthy women being labelled ‘cancer victims’. But charities say it is a vital tool, saving an estimated 1,300 lives a year.