Screening for breast cancer: the three traffic lights

• Autor(a) principal: Santos, José Agostinho
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Medicina de Família e Comunidade (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://www.rbmfc.org.br/rbmfc/article/view/677
• topic: Breast Neoplasms; Mass Screening; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Quaternary Prevention; Neoplasias de la Mama; Programa de Rastreo; Análisis Costo-Beneficio; Prevención Cuaternaria; Neoplasias da Mama; Programas de Rastreamento; Análise Custo-benefício; Prevenção Quaternária

The interpretation of breast cancer screening as three different traffic lights invites the reader for a quick review of the scientific evidence and the retention of the main points that this procedure reveals. The recommendations for the screening are produced by authors that give a green light for the screening advance, because they believe that the risk/benefit balance is favorable to its application in women at the target ages and average risk. However, as the expression “risk/benefit” implies, there is a risk that must be taken into account at the time of starting the screening, which assumes an alert for the red light. It is clear, from the evidence evaluated by independent authors, that there is a balance of pros and cons (yellow light). The role of ensuring the balance of this scale belongs perhaps to the General Practitioner and the role of putting the last weight on one of the two plates belongs to the women at the target-ages to screening.