The next step in the reevaluation of cancer screening was taken last year, when researchers at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy announced that the costs of screening for breast cancer were often minimized, and that the benefits were much exaggerated. Indeed, even a mammogram (almost 40 million are given annually in the US) that detects a cancer does not necessarily save a life.
由于达特茅斯卫生政策研究中心的研究者们宣称乳腺癌筛查的益处往往被过度夸大，而其费用则被刻意低估，因此重新评估癌症筛查的下一步工作也在去年同步展开。事实上，即便是一张可以检测出癌症的乳房X光片（全美每年为此支出达4000万美元）也不一定能拯救一条生命。