Basing whether or not a patient receives regular mammograms on their personal risk could lead to thousands of unnecessary deaths every year.
More personalized breast cancer screening could be a reality in the future; but with today's technology forgoing a mammogram based off of a patient's estimated risk could result in an "overwhelming majority" of missed breast cancer cases, an American College of Radiology (ACR) news release reported.
Researchers estimated that if the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines (which called for individualized mammography) were followed there would be an additional 6,500 breast cancer deaths in women every year in the U.S.; thousands more would be forced to go through expensive or extensive treatments that would not have been necessary had the cancer been detected earlier.
The researchers believe that in the supporting JAMA article "authors also placed too much emphasis on the obsolete and low lifesaving benefit of mammography claimed in outdated or discredited studies," the news release reported. The article cites the Canadian National Breast Screening Study (CNBSS), which has been "largely discredited" in the past.
Recent studies have suggested that regular mammograms cut breast cancer deaths by about a third in women over the age of 40. Another recent study found that over 70 percent of women who died from breast cancer in their 40s at Harvard teaching hospitals were among the 20 percent of women who had not been screened.
Since mammograms first gained popularity in the 1980s breast cancer rates have dropped by about 30 percent.
"Mammography can detect cancer early when it's most treatable and can be treated less invasively - which not only save lives, but helps preserve quality of life," the news release reported.
Every major medical organization that has expertise in breast cancer recommends that women start getting yearly mammograms after the age of 40.
