Authors explained that the cause of these anomalies is “widespread over-diagnosis” which is accountable for finding smaller tumors but does not change the death rate among breast cancer patients. researchers noted that mortality rate doesn’t budge even where the number of diagnosed cancers almost doubles. The study revealed that more than 53,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000.
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All were at least 40 years old, the percentage who had screening mammograms ranged from 39% to 78%, depending on where they lived. More screening was associated with a greater number of small cancers detected, but not a corresponding decline in larger breast cancers (more than 2 centimeters in size).
Researchers from Harvard University believe that increasing the number of breast cancer screening only leads to an increased rate of overdiagnosis. However, what is surprising is that in areas with high screening levels, breast cancer death rates did not get any lower than in areas that had less screenings. Though usually doctors advise frequent mammograms for earlier diagnosis, a recent study has shown that breast cancer screening are hugely overestimated.
Dr. Harold Burstein at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston agreed but said the study should be taken as a chance to re-visit the issue of mammogram screenings. The American Cancer Society says women over 40 should get a mammogram every year. Furthermore, researchers are hopeful that this discovery could help experts predict which patients might be at risk of their breast cancer spreading to other parts of the body, including the brain, and to the development of better medications that could help prevent secondary tumors. The age of all the women under consideration was above 40.
For example, there is no way to know if the women who received the mammograms were the same women who went on to be diagnosed with the disease, they write.
“Treatment of an overdiagnosed tumor cannot provide benefit, but it can lead to harm”. Professor Julietta Patnick, Director of the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, stated in 2012 that “inviting women aged 50-70 for screening reduces mortality from breast cancer in the population invited by 20% and saves an estimated 1,300 lives a year in the United Kingdom”.
Director of Clinical Investigation for the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Adam M. Brufsky, MD, told dailyRx News, “Right now, [the study] changes nothing, but it is one more piece of the data suggesting that the cost of more intensive screening may be the detection of less aggressive cancers which require less aggressive treatment”. Lynn was one of those women.
Mammograms are even more valuable in detecting early breast cancer thanks to the latest advancement in digital mammography – 3-D breast tomosynthesis.
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Also, the follow-up may not have been long enough to show the long-term benefits of mammography, Wender said.
