Study: Breast cancer overtreatment costs US $4B a year

Sharpening a medical debate about the costs and benefits of cancer screening, a new report estimates that the U.S. spends $4 billion a year on unnecessary medical costs due to mammograms that generate false alarms, and on treatment of certain breast tumors unlikely to cause problems. Mei-Sing Ong, research associate in biomedical informatics, and Kenneth Mandl, professor of pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital, coauthored the study.

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