"the USPSTF concluded that the absolute benefit from routine mammograms in women 40 to 49 years of age was insufficient to offset the harm, including false positive results leading to anxiety and unnecessary biopsies"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22970943

N Engl J Med. 2012 Sep 13;367(11):987-9.

There is more to life than death.

Hartzband P, Groopman J.

Source

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.

"Similarly, the USPSTF concluded that the absolute benefit from routine mammograms in women 40 to 49 years of age was insufficient to offset the harm, including false positive results leading to anxiety and unnecessary biopsies. A statistician on the panel also used the term “no-brainer” when interviewed by the New York Times about this conclusion. But mammography increases the likelihood of identifying breast cancers that are small enough to be treated with conservative therapy such as lumpectomy and reduces the need for mastectomy and chemotherapy.

So for a woman in her 40s, how do you balance the anxiety and discomfort associated with undergoing a biopsy for a false positive mammogram against the possible need for more extensive surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy for a larger cancer detected later in life? Again, how can we quantify the “utility” or impact of these conditions on a woman's life?"