Each patient has different risks that should be discussed with a doctor.
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ProMedica will offer a free mammogram clinic from 9 a.m.to 5 p.m. July 21 at ProMedica St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee.
Even though the debate is ongoing between supporters of screening mammograms and skeptics, the number of studies that back up the efficiency of screening remains higher.
What researchers found is that frequent mammograms are great at turning up smaller tumors, but the risk of dying of breast cancer doesn’t decrease in those who get them more often. If that were the case, the researchers should have found lower breast cancer mortality rates in counties where screening was more widespread, according to a commentary that accompanied the study. Women over 70 years of age are being targeted as about one-third of all breast cancers occur in women in this age group.
He also said that there are also studies that show the declines in mortalities as results of breast cancer to be the same in regions that integrated mammography in the 80s as others that did the same up to 20 years later. “This was quite surprising to me”, he added. Another opinion piece in the medical journal remarks on these laws, which have the intention of improving women’s understanding of their breast cancer risk, and the quality of breast cancer screening that is recommended for them. “So, the findings of the study is not that surprising”. According to a report from the Guardian, mammograms may save fewer lives than doctors previously believed. These tiny breast cancers are usually easier to treat than larger ones. With additional imagery and tomosynthesis’ 3-D modeling feature, radiologists are able to identify even small breast lesions in very early stages. The American Cancer Society says women over 40 should get a mammogram every year. But in 2009, the U.S Preventative Task Force set breast cancer guidelines at 50 for every other year. Furthermore, the rate of screening for mammograms in these countries was between 39% to 78%. New data suggests that the reduction of breast cancer mortality rates by mammography programs are less than 10 percent as opposed to the 25 percent in previous research.
“The goal of screening mammography is to reduce breast cancer mortality by detecting and treating cancer early in the course of the disease”, Richard Wilson, DPhil, of the department of physics at Harvard University, and colleagues wrote. It said 1 million women may have been overdiagnosed.
Routine breast cancer screening may be incorrectly picking up women who do not actually have the disease, research suggests.
Finally, Burstein said the study relied on large data sets that don’t provide much information about individual patients.
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They however pointed out that the study raises important questions about the benefits of mammography screening, although “it certainly does not answer them”.
