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At the beginning of 2014 one of the largest and longest studies to date on mammography, carried out on 90,000 women over 25 years, found that mammograms have no effect on mortality from breast cancer.
Mammographic examination
During the course of the study, mortality from this type of cancer was practically identical in women who underwent preventive mammogram screenings and those who did not. In addition, approximately 22 percent of detected aggressive breast cancers were false diagnoses, which subsequently led to unnecessary treatment. The researchers agreed that the benefit of mammographic screening should be clearly reassessed.
Yet public health authorities in individual countries were too slow to update their recommendations. For example, the American Cancer Society (the equivalent of the Czech League Against Cancer) still recommends undergoing a mammogram every year for women over 40. Conflicting information has caused mixed feelings among women about whether this screening is beneficial or harmful. The medical panel in Switzerland, however, did not hesitate and made a clear decision: no more blanket mammography.
Why did the Swiss say goodbye to mammograms?
After a year of studying and reassessing the available evidence and their consequences for women’s health, the Swiss medical panel, which is an independent evaluating body, declared that they were worried by the new information. The evidence was simply in stark contradiction to the global consensus of those experts who considered mammograms to be safe and life-saving. They pointed out that mammographic examinations can prevent only one death out of 1,000 women who underwent them. On the other hand, however, they cause harm to far more women than just one.
After evaluating all the information, they simply had no other option than to no longer recommend new population-wide mammography screening programs to women. At the same time they demanded that restrictions be imposed on existing programs. In their report published in February 2014 the Swiss medical panel further recommended that women must be “clearly and distinctly” informed not only about the now disputed benefits, but also about the possible harms caused by mammography.
The science behind mammography stands on shaky ground
Unfortunately, many women are still unaware that the science proving the health benefits of mammography simply does not exist. Instead of being told the truth, they are deliberately made to feel guilty that skipping a regular mammogram is the height of irresponsibility. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to fight such a tactic.
It must also be admitted that even many doctors and healthcare workers are just as swept up and manipulated as the average person on the street. All of this is the result of deliberate and relentless propaganda conducted by the media and the health system. They simply downplay and belittle research that contradicts their profit-driven agenda. However, today the risks of mammography are written about not only by alternative but also by many mainstream media. An example is an article on the Vyšetření page, which belongs to one of the largest Slovak internet portals, Zoznam.sk.
5 facts about mammograms that every woman should know
Before your next (or first) mammogram, you should absolutely familiarize yourself with the following facts:
1/ mammograms provide fewer benefits than you think
In one survey most women said they believed in the ability of mammography to reduce the risk of death from breast cancer by at least half, and that it would directly prevent at least 80 deaths per 1,000 screened women. In reality, mammography offers at best only a 20% reduction in relative risk and in absolute numbers prevents only 1 death out of 1,000 women.
2/ mammography can increase the risk of breast cancer in women with a BRCA 1/2 gene mutation
Research results published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) showed that a mutation of this gene increases the risk of radiation-induced cancer (mammography uses X-ray radiation). Women who were exposed to this radiation in diagnostic doses (including mammograms) before the age of 30 have up to twice the risk of cancer. It was also found that this radiation-induced cancer depends on the size of the dose. That means the more examinations, the greater the risk.
3/ False positive findings are common (and dangerous)
The risk that during 10 mammogram screenings you will have a false positive result is an astonishing 58 to 77 percent. If a woman is told that she may have breast cancer, it causes significant anxiety and stress. Meanwhile you will undergo another series of tests such as biopsies, which have their own risks. And you will undergo all of this completely unnecessarily.
4/ mammography may not work if you have dense tissue
Up to 50% of women have relatively dense breast tissue, which causes mammogram images to be very difficult to read. Dense healthy tissue, as well as cancerous tissue, appears white on the images, which makes the radiologist’s job extremely difficult. It’s like trying to find a snowflake in a snowstorm. In some U.S. states such as California, Connecticut, or New York laws have been passed that in cases of dense tissue require the radiologist to inform the woman that a mammogram is unnecessary for her.
A similar law is now being prepared at the federal level. How is it with informing women in the Czech Republic? You can guess that yourself …
5/ There are other screening options
Today women already have other examination options available. Each of course has its strengths and weaknesses. But you have the right to know about them and, above all, the right to choose.
