Screening mammography is widely used throughout the U.S. and is thought of as a great success in the prevention of breast cancer deaths.

But what does the evidence say? Are we getting what we are paying for with mammography, or simply shouldering the extra cost of false positives and overdiagnosis? We examine these issues and more on this episode of 2 Docs Talk.

References:

What does the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) do?

USPSTF current (2009) breast cancer screening recs 

USPSTF proposed (2015) breast cancer screening recs

American Cancer Society updated breast cancer screening recs

American College of Obstetricians and Radiologists breast cancer screening recs

American College of Radiology breast cancer screening recs

Switzerland's stance on screening mammography

Cost of false positive mammograms

BMJ study that showed no benefit from screening mammography performed in 1980's

JAMA Oncology study on ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)

An excellent (and long!) discussion of overdiagnosis and screening mammography