U.S. Study Says There is a Significant Overdiagnosis of Breast Cancer in U.S. Women Bleyer A, Welch HG, experts in breast cancer in the United States, report that mammography screening has only slightly reduced the prevalence of advanced cancer in women, despite a dramatic increase in the detection of early-stage breast cancer cases. Screening has led to significant overdiagnosis and has had only a small effect on breast cancer mortality. Researchers obtained the incidence of early-stage breast cancer (ductal carcinoma in situ and localized disease) and late-stage breast cancer (regional and distal disease) from monitored epidemiologic data (1976-2008). Since the initiation of screening, the number of cases of early-stage breast cancer detected per year doubled from 112 to 234 per 100,000 women, while the incidence of late-stage cancer decreased by 8% (from 102 to 94 per 100,000 women). Assuming the potential disease burden remains constant, only 8 of the 122 additional cases of early-stage cancer diagnosed would be expected to progress to advanced disease. During the 30-year screening period, an estimated 1.3 million women had an overdiagnosis of breast cancer. In 2008, it was estimated that 31% of the breast cancers diagnosed (>70,000 women) would never result in clinical symptoms. So how exactly do you prevent treatment? The current clinical use of a very standardized report, the BI-RADS grading, facilitates clinicians to accurately determine what to do next.BI-RADS stands for the American College of Radiology’s Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System.The BI-RADS grading method classifies breast lesions into grades 0 to 6, and generally speaking, the higher the grade, the greater the likelihood of malignancy. Generally speaking, grades 0 to 3 are not a cause for much concern and are very unlikely to be malignant. grades 4 and above require immediate consultation with a breast surgeon. Of course, the process of diagnosing a disease is never this simple, and requires a specific comprehensive analysis based on the clinical experience of a professional doctor, who must give proper interpretation and guidance to a specialist after getting the report card.