51¶¯Âþ

A row over breast cancer screening has broken out between Danish researchers
and cancer charities. Last year, Ole Olsen and Peter Gøtzsche of the Nordic
Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen caused a storm when they claimed that mammograms
do not reduce breast cancer deaths and are unwarranted. Now they have looked
again at their study of seven clinical trials and reached the same conclusion
(The Lancet, vol 358, p 1340). But cancer charities say their findings are
unjustified and misleading. Stephen Duffy of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund
says most studies show that screening significantly reduces breast cancer
deaths.