Screening bypasses radical breast surgery

According to researchers at the Britain University, breast screening is linked with a fall of almost half in the number of mastectomies. A team working for the leading charity Cancer Research UK has analyzed data from a group of 55,000 women in Florence, Italy, aged between 55 and 65. They find that following the introduction of a breast screening programme, the rate of mastectomy - removal of the breast - for cancer came down by 50 per cent.

There has been a lot of such changes happening all round the plave. At the same time, the rate of breast conserving surgery went up by 50 per cent. In this operation, the lump from the breast is removed. Hence this is indicative that screening has the benefit of detecting breast cancer at a much earlier stage, so that radical surgery may not be needed.