Cancer screening is a very controversial topic; charged with emotion. Gilbert Welch, in the NY Times, has an important, lucid opinion piece about mammography and prostate screening that is worth reading. Welch is one of the most respected researchers in health outcomes in the U.S.
You Have to Gamble on Your Health
"Screening is like gambling: there are winners and there are losers. And while the few winners win big, there are a lot more losers.
[Are there] some people who have avoided dying from breast or prostate cancer by getting screened? While there is some debate about whether they really exist, my reading of the data is that they do, but they are few and far between — on the order of less than 1 breast or prostate cancer death averted per 1,000 people screened over 10 years. That’s less than 0.1 percent."