Abstract
Mammography is the gold standard for breast cancer screening. This chapter addresses the historic scientific randomized controlled trials demonstrating the benefit of screening mammography in the early detection of invasive breast cancer and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and the numerous recent observational and computer modeling studies that have confirmed this positive effect. Since screening began in the 1980s, mammography has been shown to decrease mortality from breast cancer by anywhere from 15 to 58 %. Late-stage disease and node positivity have similarly decreased. Controversy as to the extent of benefit and the harms of mammography exists and the controversy regarding mammographic screening is presented. Major US medical societies agree that screening mammography is beneficial and they have issued guidelines for screening. The greatest discussions exist regarding when to start and how frequently it should be performed. Scientific analysis of different schedules of age to start and screening interval is presented. Overdiagnosis of breast cancer is discussed.
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Pinsky, R., Helvie, M. (2015). Role of Screening Mammography in Early Detection/Outcome of Breast Cancer. In: Newman, L., Bensenhaver, J. (eds) Ductal Carcinoma In Situ and Microinvasive/Borderline Breast Cancer. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2035-8_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2035-8_2
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