The interesting issue with mammography is not false positives, it's overdiagnosis.
False positive - positive test with no cancer. Not a massive problem, as a positive mammogram is always followed up with a biopsy, and a fine needle aspirate or core biopsy is not the end of the world.
Overdiagnosis - positive test, cancer is present, but finding it is unhelpful. Cancer would never have caused any problems, but once you find it, you feel obliged to do surgery plus chemo plus radiotherapy, with possibly targeted therapy and hormonal therapy on top of this.
The concept of overdiagnosis is counterintuitive to a generation bought up to believe we must 'find cancer early'.
