Study Highlights Unneeded Breast Cancer Treatments
Over the last 30 years, more than 1.3 million women who were diagnosed with breast cancer through routine mammograms received unnecessary treatment for "abnormalities that otherwise would not have caused illness," according to a study by the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. The study found that the women "undergo surgery, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy for five years or more, chemotherapy, or (usually) a combination of these treatments" for such abnormalities.
- "Mammograms Are Not Effective in Lowering Breast Cancer Death Rates" (Kearney, Medical News Today, 11/24).