Breast cancer screening leads to more damage than previously thought, according to an independent review.
Approximately 1,300 lives are saved each year by mammography; however 4,000 women will go through unnecessary treatment, the study said.
Screening identifies extremely small , slow growing cancers that women will not have otherwise known about and would cause them no harm in their lifetime. This means that these women have had to go through the therapy they needn’t have, including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Women are invited to choose a mammography between the ages of 50 to 70 but are now going to be offered more information about the procedure. The federal government is reviewing the leaflet which invites women to screening to give them an ‘informed choice’ as to whether they would like to be screened.
The review recommends that screenings should continue, using the key being communication with these ladies and national cancer director Sir Mike Richards welcomed the panel’s support.
“The key thing is that we communicate this new information to women so they can make an informed choice for themselves.
NHS Cancer Screening Programmes have already asked independent academics to develop new materials to give the facts in a clear, unbiased way. I hope to see them in use in the next few months. If any woman has concerns about breast screening she should talk to her GP or health professional.”
Breast cancer charities Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer Campaign and Breast Cancer Care came out to offer the review and said that it offers some much needed clarity.
“This is good news for women as they can now be assured that breast screening can be beneficial,” they said. “However, some women who attend screening may be diagnosed and treated for a cancer that may not have caused them harm in their lifetime. To ensure women understand what this may mean for them it is important they have access to clear and balanced information.”
The review estimated that screening reduces the risk of dying from breast cancer by 20%. It has prevented 43 deaths for each 10,000 women invited to be screened using one of those women, 681 cancers could be diagnosed and 129 over-diagnosed finding a normally non-harmful and undetectable tumour.
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