New Study Raises More Questions About the Value of Mammograms

This chart, published in British Medical Journal, shows that the breast cancer mortality of patients who underwent mammogram screening vs. those who did not is practically equal.A new, long-term study in BMJ provides perhaps the most compelling argument to date that screening mammograms may not be effective in reducing the death rate from cancer and may in fact cause harm from overtreatment in some women. The study is based on results from the Canadian National Breast Screening Study. For this research, 89,835 women ages 40 to 59 were randomly assigned to receive either annual mammograms for five years, or no mammograms during the study period. All of the women received breast exams by trained nurses. The women were followed for up to 25 years to see which of them died of breast cancer. Based on the data, the authors report that there was no difference between those who had screening mammography and those who didn’t in terms of their likelihood of dying from breast cancer. The authors conclude: Annual mammography in women aged 40-59 does not reduce mortality from breast cancer beyond that of physical examination or usual care when adjuvant therapy for breast cancer is freely available. Overall, 22% (106/484) of screen detected invasive breast cancers were over-diagnosed, representing one over-diagnosed breast cancer for every 424 women who received mammography screening in the trial. Put simply, this means that one in five cancers do not pose a deadly threat, yet thes...
Source: Our Bodies Our Blog - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Tags: Breast Cancer Research & Studies Source Type: blogs