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Tumor Discovery

SECONDARY PUBLICATION
Benefits and harms of screening: Overdiagnosis

and anticipatory medicine – A secondary
publication

Antonio Zarazaga Monzon *, Ángeles Franco-López , and Jesús M. Culebras 4
2,3
1
1 Department of Surgery, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
2 Radiology Services, Vinalopó and Torrevieja Hospitals, Spain
3 University by ANECA, Alicante, Spain
4 Royal Academy of Medicine of Valladolid and IBIOMED, University of León, León, Spain

Abstract
This article belongs to Secondary
Publication Section, and is The treatment of breast cancer has changed markedly since the publication of works
translated from an article published
in Journal of Negative and No that recommend screening for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. Retrospective
Positive Results. Citation of primary reevaluations have revealed errors in screening; moreover, advances in oncological
version: Monzon AZ, Franco-López therapy and a better understanding of the disease have raised doubts toward the
A, Culebras JM, 2020, Benefits
and damages of screening. efficacy of these procedures, which might also cause side effects alongside the risk
Overdiagnosis and anticipatory of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. On the other hand, the lack of information
medicine. Journal of Negative or even misinformation might cause confusion among the potential beneficiaries
and No Positive Results, 5(4):
369–378. https://doi.org/10.19230/ of these procedures, particularly the patients. These procedures are constantly
jonnpr.3299. being recommended by institutions, but the possible risks accompanied by these
*Corresponding author: procedures are often not explained. It is easy to promote mammography screening
Antonio Zarazaga Monzon if the majority believe that it reduces the risk of breast cancer and saves lives.
(ant.zarazaga@gmail.com) Unfortunately, this is not the case. Many critics of screening are now demanding
Citation: Monzon AZ, Franco- clear and precise explanations of the procedure and emphasizing on the importance
López A, Culebras JM, 2022, of physical examination. Women must make informed decisions before screening
Benefits and harms of screening:
Overdiagnosis and anticipatory by discussing their own risk profile, the possible benefits, and the eventual risks
medicine – A secondary publication. and harms of mammogram with their physicians. Women should be classified into
Tumor Discov, 1(2): 228. two groups: those who would gain potential benefits from the procedure and
https://doi.org/10.36922/td.v1i2.228
those whose risks outweigh the benefits. A screening program that clearly does not
Published Online: November 17, 2022 offer more benefits than risks cannot be implemented by public heath institutions.
Copyright: © 2022 Journal of Providing complete and unbiased information, promoting appropriate care, as well
Negative and No Positive Results. as preventing overdiagnosis and overtreatment would be the best option.
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution- Keywords: Screening; Breast cancer; Mammogram; Overdiagnosis; Anticipatory medicine
NonCommercial-ShareAlike
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is
properly cited and the work is 1. Introduction
distributed under the same license
as the original. Many researchers have criticized the efficiency of screening. They concur that trials
Publisher’s Note: AccScience advocating universal screening suffer from biased information on optimal results,
Publishing remains neutral with use misleading advertising, and minimize or even conceal the negative physical and
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional psychological effects caused by the application of screening in healthy people as well as
affiliations. the lack of information provided to the people.

Volume 1 Issue 2 (2022) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/td.v1i2.228