According to a study presented by Marijke Jansen-van der Weideat at a conference at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America on 30 November, radiation from annual mammograms may further increase the risk that young women with genetic mutations or family histories linked to breast cancer will develop the disease.
High doses of radiation can increase the risk of breast cancer. That mammograms use a low dose may not be enough protection since the same genetic mutations that increase the risk of breast cancer in some women might also make them more susceptible to cancer caused by radiation. This is especially important to consider given that typically doctors urge high-risk patients to begin breast cancer screening earlier in life.
The researchers examined data from six previous studies on about 5,000 high-risk women. They found that women who had mammograms or chest X-rays prior to age 20, or who had had at least five radiation exposures, were two-and-one-half times more likely to develop breast cancer than women who had had no exposure. This is a substantially increased risk of developing breast cancer and amounts to another case of iatragenesis (doctor caused disease).
The study’s findings will contribute to the debate brought on by a recent Journal of the American Medical Association article questioning current breast cancer screening practices and recent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines stating that most women can begin mammograms later in life and have them less frequently than is generally recommended. However, there is no debate on this issue at The Health Gazette. Our position is that mammograms represent unacceptable risk and should be avoided as routine screening tools.
Tags: breast cancer, iatragenesis, mammogram