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At the beginning of 2014 one of the largest and longest studies on mammography, conducted on 90,000 women over 25 years, found that mammograms have no effect on mortality from breast cancer.
During the study the death rate from this type of cancer was practically identical among women who underwent preventive mammography screenings and those who did not.
In addition, approximately 22 percent of detected aggressive breast cancers were incorrect findings, which subsequently led to unnecessary treatment.
Researchers agreed that the benefit of mammographic screening should be unequivocally reassessed.
Nevertheless, public health authorities in individual countries were too slow to update their recommendations.
For example, the American Cancer Society (the Czech equivalent of the League Against Cancer) still recommends undergoing a mammographic examination every year for women over 40.
Conflicting information aroused mixed feelings among women about whether this screening is beneficial or harmful. However, a medical panel in Switzerland did not hesitate and made a clear decision: No more population-wide mammography.
Why did the Swiss say goodbye to mammograms?
After a year of studying and reassessing the available evidence and its consequences for women’s health, the Swiss medical panel, which is an independent evaluation body, declared that they were troubled by the new information.
The evidence simply stood in stark contradiction to the global consensus of those experts who considered mammograms 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, they cause harm to many more women than just that one.
After evaluating all the information, they simply had no choice but to stop recommending new population-wide mammography screening programs for women. At the same time they called for restrictions on existing programs.
In their report published in February 2014 the Swiss medical panel further recommended that women must be “clearly and explicitly” informed not only about the now-debated 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 regular mammograms is the height of irresponsibility. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to fight against such a tactic.
It must also be admitted that even many doctors and healthcare workers are just as swept away and manipulated as the average person on the street.
All of this is the result of deliberate and relentless propaganda driven by the media and the health system. They simply downplay and disparage research that contradicts their profit-oriented agenda.
However, today the risks of mammography are being written about not only in alternative but also in many mainstream media outlets. An example is an article on the Vyšetření site, which belongs to one of the largest Slovak internet portals, Zoznam.sk.
5 facts about mammograms every woman should know
Before your next (or first) mammographic examination, you should absolutely familiarize yourself with the following facts:
1/ Mammography offers fewer benefits than you think
In one survey the majority of women said they believed mammography could reduce the risk of dying from breast cancer by at least half, and that it directly prevents at least 80 deaths per 1,000 women screened. In reality, mammography offers at best only a 20% reduction in relative risk and in absolute terms prevents only 1 death out of 1,000 women.
2/ Mammography can increase the risk of breast cancer in women with BRCA 1/2 gene mutations
Results of research published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) showed that mutations in this gene increase the risk of radiation-induced cancer (mammography uses X-ray radiation). Women who were exposed to this radiation at diagnostic doses (including mammograms) before age 30 have up to twice the risk of cancer. It was also found that this radiation-induced cancer depends on dose size. That means the more examinations, the higher the risk.
3/ False positive findings are common (and dangerous)
The risk that you will have a false positive result after 10 mammograms is an astonishing 58 to 77 percent.
If a woman is told she may have breast cancer, it causes significant anxiety and stress. Meanwhile she will undergo a further series of tests such as biopsies, which have their own risks. And all of this you will undergo completely unnecessarily.
4/ Mammography may not work if you have dense tissue
Up to 50% of women have relatively dense breast tissue, which makes mammogram images very difficult to read. Dense healthy tissue, like cancerous tissue, appears white on images, which greatly complicates a radiologist’s work.
It is like trying to find a snowflake in a blizzard. In some U.S. states such as California, Connecticut, and New York, laws have been passed that require radiologists to inform a woman when a mammogram is useless for her because of dense tissue.
A similar law is now being prepared at the federal level. How informed are women in the Czech Republic? You can imagine for yourself …
5/ Other screening options exist
Today women also have other examination options. Each, of course, has its own strengths and weaknesses. However, you have the right to know about them and, most importantly, the right to choose.
