A review of the research casts doubt on this diagnostic tool. Here’s the bottom line – News and notes: latest research, interviews, product reviews, tips, & trends.
A recent report in the medical journal Lancet has rekindled the controversy over whether mammograms save lives. In it, Danish researchers say that no clear evidence supports the use of this screening. They acknowledge that five of the seven studies they examined show that mammograms can cut a woman’s chances of dying from breast cancer by up to 30 percent. But those studies are flawed, say the Danes, and telling women that mammography saves lives is misleading.
In response to the Danish report, researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., examined those same studies and concluded that evidence does support the use of mammography. An independent National Cancer Institute (NCI) advisory panel that at first sided with the Danes has since concurred with the Cornell report.
So what should women do? Most doctors as well as the NCI and the American Cancer Society still recommend mammograms. That’s because it’s one of the few tools doctors and patients have in the fight against breast cancer, along with self-examination and regular exams. At what age those screenings should begin depends on your breast cancer risk and your doctor’s philosophy (some doctors say at 40; some say at 50).
“The important message is that mammography is just a tool, and not a great tool at that,” says breast cancer researcher Susan Love, M.D., author of Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book (Perseus Book Group, 2000), who advises her patients to get screened. “It’s the best tool we’ve got, but we need to get a better [one].”
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