With the help of mammography, the number of cases of breast cancer detected at an early stage doubled, but this did not affect the number of deaths from breast cancer. In any case, as claimed by American scientists who analyzed the data collected over 30 years.
In a new study, scientists collected data from the National Institute of Health regarding women 40 years of age and older who underwent mammogram screening between 1976 and 2008, and compared with the number of sick women under 40 who did not undergo mammography.
The analysis showed that the number of detected cases of the disease in women older than 40 years doubled between 1976 and 2008, but this was due to the fact that a mammographic examination became widespread during these years. Meanwhile, the number of early cases of breast cancer detected by mammography in women under 40 years old increased by only 0.25% per year.
The number of advanced cases of the disease in women older than 40 years has decreased slightly.
This analysis shows that mammography plays an insignificant role in the prevention of late stage disease.
In addition, at least one third of all breast cancer patients identified by mammography were actually overdiagnosed. Hyperdiagnosis is an erroneous conclusion that a patient has a disease that does not actually exist or that will never harm them. Over the past 30 years, 1.3 million women have been misdiagnosed.
Hyperdiagnosis remains an area that requires further discussion and analysis to help understand what is more in such a diagnosis - the pros and cons.
According to scientists, it is necessary to better inform women about the relative benefits and potential harms of mammography, which is not limited to overdiagnosis.
The potential harm to the examination is that it creates unnecessary anxiety due to false results and unnecessary biopsies, followed by treatment with drugs or radiation, which also has its side effects. And all this is due to a disease that would never affect their health.
