Mammography leads to lots of false positives, unnecessary biopsies and saves few, if any, lives

For every 1,000 women in the US who are 50-years-old getting mammograms every two years, only one fewer breast cancer death will occur over 10 years, reducing the number who die from breast cancer from 5 women to 4 women, but there is no evidence that the total number of deaths is reduced because the radiation from mammograms and unnecessary treatment may cause one additional death from other causes, and out of every 1,000 women given mammograms, “490 to 670 women are likely to have a false positive mammogram with repeat examination; 70 to 100 [are likely to have] an unnecessary biopsy; and 3 to 14 [are likely to have] an overdiagnosed breast cancer that would never have become clinically apparent [and would never have caused them any problems],” according to a recent article by two Swiss researchers published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Cancer groups like to say that mammograms reduce breast cancer deaths by 20%, but this is very misleading

The reduction from 5 breast cancer deaths to 4 breast cancer deaths for every 1,000 women 50-years-old who are screened for 10 years is called a 20% reduction.

Do you find this misleading?

Women have been scared into believing breast cancer is a bigger killer than it really is

When US women were asked how many breast cancer deaths would be prevented by doing mammograms over 10 years, these women guessed that 160 women out of every 1,000 women would die from breast cancer over 10 years if they were not screened, but if they were screened, that only 80 women out of every 1000 would die from breast cancer over 10 years.

In other words, US women guessed that out of every 1,000 women, 80 fewer women would die from breast cancer over 10 years if they got mammograms than if they did not (80 rather than 160).

But the facts are much different than this: if 1,000 women 50-years-old were not given mammograms, only 5 women would die from breast cancer over the next 10 years, and if those same 1,000 women were given mammograms every two years, only one fewer woman would die from breast cancer—4 rather than 5—during those same 10 years, but there might be one more death due to other causes due to radiation and overtreatment so that the same number of women would die overall and no lives would be saved.

The bottom line is that screening mammograms are not saving nearly as many lives as women have been led to believe, and may not be saving any lives at all.

Other articles about breast cancer and breast cancer screening

Other articles about breast cancer and ways to reduce the risk naturally, and breast cancer screening are posted here.

Here are links to some of those articles.

‘It no longer seems beneficial to attend for breast cancer screening’, The Cochrane Collaboration

High consumption of peanuts, walnuts, or almonds reduced the risk for breast cancer 2-3 times

Women with a high intake of garlic had 10% less breast cancer

People consuming 7 or more servings of onions per week had 25% less breast cancer

One serving of blueberries per week associated with 31% lower risk of breast cancer

Two servings of peaches per week associated with 41% lower risk of breast cancer

Flaxseed consumption reduces risk of breast cancer by 18%, flax bread by 23%

Iodine protects against breast cancer, Joan Mathews Larson, PhD

Onions reduce cancer risk by 25-88%

Breast cancer risk 26% lower in overweight postmenopausal women eating low glycemic index diet

Breast cancer 20% more common in women with type 2 diabetes

Mammography leads to lots of false positives, unnecessary biopsies and saves few, if any, lives

Breast cancer 12 times more common in women given a statin in the CARE trial

Long-term statin use is associated with double the risk of breast cancer

SSRI’s may increase risk of breast cancer, notes Joan Mathews Larson PhD

More breast cancer screening does NOT lead to fewer breast cancer deaths

Breast cancer screening does not save lives, Prof. Peter Gotzsche, MD

Obese women have 25% greater lifetime risk of breast cancer than healthy weight women

Sugar can make some cancers grow including breast cancer and colon cancer says Lewis Cantley, PhD

Don’t eat sugar says cancer researcher, Lewis Cantley, PhD

Annual mammography does NOT lower the total risk of death notes Joel Kauffman, PhD

High glycemic index diet increases the risk of breast cancer 8 percent

Breast cancer risk 7% lower in women with BMI of 20 (low normal) compared to 25 (high normal)

Breast cancer: 60 lbs increases risk 1.4-fold in postmenopausal women

Being overweight at 18 lowers the risk of breast cancer both pre- and post-menopausal in Black women

Excess weight accounts for 3-6% of all cancers in Europe

Increasing BMI increases the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women

Elevated blood sugar increases risk of death from cancer by 23-29%

Reference

Biller-Andorno N, and Juni P. Abolishing mammography screening programs? A view from the Swiss Medical Board. N Engl J Med, 2014 May 22; 370(21): 1965-1967.

The article is available for free here.

Author’s Contact Info

Nikola Biller-Andorno, MD, PhD
Institute of Biomedical Ethics
University of Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
and a
member of the expert panel of the
Swiss Medical Board

Peter Jüni, MD
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine and
Clinical Trials Unit Bern
Department of Clinical Research
University of Bern
Bern, Switzerland

Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Cancer screening (Does it do any good?)

• Cancer, Breast

• Mammography