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Is breast cancer overdiagnosed?

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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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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Medical Oncology C, Epidemiology Unit, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, National Cancer Institute, Aviano, Italy

    Andrea Veronesi & Diego Serraino

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  1. Andrea Veronesi
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  2. Diego Serraino
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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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