Mammographic screening for breast cancer: A review

In 2011, BreastScreen Australia celebrated 20 years of mammographic screening for breast cancer in Australia. There has been a reduction in mortality from breast cancer over the last two decades, coincident with mammographic screening. However, there are concerns that mammographic screening may result in overdiagnosis of breast cancer and that the reduction in mortality from breast cancer is the result of better treatment rather than screening. This article reviews the evidence on which mammographic screening for breast cancer is based, considers the issue of overdiagnosis of breast cancer by screening mammography, and assesses the role of screening mammography in the reduction in breast cancer mortality seen over the last two decades.