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THURSDAY, July 10, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Women need better information about breast cancer screening to fully understand the potential benefits and risks, says an article in this week's British Medical Journal.
Breast cancer screening is common in many countries of the world, but there's ongoing debate about its value. There are wide variations in the estimates of the effectiveness of screening in preventing breast cancer deaths. Women are often given limited information in a language they may find difficult to understand, the article says.
Because of that, the potential harmful effects of breast cancer screening are often simply chalked up as the price worth paying for the perceived benefit.
Research into breast cancer screening programs should be done to develop flexible decision aids to provide women with balanced information.
The article says it's unacceptable that women undergoing breast cancer screening tests continue to suffer damage and regret because they didn't fully understand the potential harm.
More information
The American Cancer Society has updated breast cancer screening guidelines.
