Routine screening

Analysis and Comment (5)

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Even without routine mammographs, women with a family history of the disease should be screened. Zanthia

Is routine breast cancer screening doing more harm than good?

By Robin Bell, Monash University; Bebe Loff, Monash University; Michael Baum, University College London, and Robert Burton, Monash University

Public discussion about the risks of over-diagnosis of breast cancer have left some women wondering whether they should take part in the government’s breast screening program. Let’s take a look at what…
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Should a faceless committee decide whether men should have treatment? Meeting(green) from www.shutterstock.com

Giving men choice: the case for routine prostate cancer screening

By Mark Frydenberg, Monash University

Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a common blood test used by doctors to assess whether an individual has prostate cancer. It also predicts the risk of developing prostate cancer sometime in the future…
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A diagnosis of early prostate cancer may end up doing more harm than good. Medical Office picture from Shutterstock

More harm than good: rethinking routine prostate cancer screening

By Ian Haines, Monash University

My offer for a public debate was accepted after I co-published opposing viewpoints about the high rates of over-diagnosis and over-treatment of early stage prostate cancer with leading urologist Professor…
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Basic statistical literacy is important for communicating and understanding medical risks. Janet Ramsden

Understanding risk statistics about breast cancer screening

By Fiona Fidler, University of Melbourne and Bonnie Claire Wintle, University of Melbourne

An article published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) today says a US charity “overstates the benefit of mammography and ignores harms altogether.” The charity’s questionable claim is that early detection…

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