Is the benefit attributed to widespread breast cancer screening programmes supported by the evidence? What to make of the phenomenon of overdiagnosis, where patients are treated for cancers identified during screening that would not have been problematic in their lifetime?
For people assessed as being at high risk of developing breast cancer, how to decide whether to have preventative treatment or surgery? Finally, are IVF techniques to stop people passing on cancer risk genes to their children justified?
This podcast features interviews on those questions with the four people - two epidemiologists, a head of a cancer charity and an IVF expert - who spoke at the Progress Educational Trust (PET)'s event 'Risk Assessment: Breast Cancer, Prediction and Screening', part of the Wellcome Trust-supported project 'Breast Cancer: Chances, Choices and Genetics'.
Listen to the podcast using the player below.
| 00:00 | James Brooks: Introduction |
| 01:45 | Wendy Watson: Support for people with a strong family history of breast cancer |
| 05:40 | Paul Serhal: Preimplantation genetic diagnosis for BRCA mutations |
| 09:50 | Professor Stephen Duffy: Evidence for breast cancer screening programmes |
| 15:00 | Professor Klim McPherson: The problems of overdiagnosis and overselling screening success |
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