I haven’t noticed it being particularly low profile this year, but it is hard to tell as I am, of course, a lot more aware this year as a result of my wife’s diagnosis. To be honest, although I was always aware of breast cancer as an issue and of the various ongoing campaigns (much more aware than for prostate cancer for example), I had never heard specifically of “Pink October” until this year.
The point you raise about misdiagnosis and possible unnecessary treatments is an interesting one. I think a lot is due to the gradually increasing scientific knowledge about BC and cancer in general. I think the definition of “cancer” is a lot more fuzzy than people think. I have seen DCIS and LCIS, for example, referred to as “pre-cancerous”, because the cells haven’t yet started breaking ranks and spreading about.
I also did see some research from the USA, where screening currently starts much earlier than here, regarding the number of false positives from mammograms. One of the factors that was mentioned was that it is much harder to interpret mammograms that are done prior to menopause. (I’ll try to find that paper again if I can.)
I think when the knowledge is not well-developed, there is a tendency to treat everything as if it were the worst case. There was probably a time not so long ago when full radical mastectomy was the norm (i.e. taking the pectoral muscles away as well as the breast). As knowledge has improved, this has become rare and the choice of treatments has become much more refined. It is only very recently (maybe even within the last 5 years) that sentinel node biopsies have been widely used to prevent unnecessary lymph node clearances being performed. It may be true that some cancers are “slow growing” and not dangerous, but until there is a way to identify which ones they are, it doesn’t really help much.
It is not just BC where increased knowledge is having an impact on treatment. I remember reading quite some time ago (before I had to find out about these forums) that many men were being given unnecessary, radical treatment for prostate cancers, when their particular form of cancer would probably not affect them within their normal lifetime.
I think the dream, that is perhaps starting to become within reach, is that cancer will one day be treatable to the extent that it is seen as no worse than, say TB, which was practically a death sentence until about 60 years ago, but is perfectly treatable now (if you have access to the treatments).
It is important, though, that people are aware that we aren’t there yet with cancers. I have heard of people saying “oh breast cancer, that’s curable now isn’t it” and most people I talk to don’t even realise that BC is not just one disease, but a whole family of them! We need to make sure that these misunderstandings are stamped out quickly.
(I am not an expert, so these are just my opinions. Sorry for the long ramble by the way.)