Do Mammograms Increase The Risk of Breast Cancer?

Mammography screening has suddenly become a controversial topic as doubts are raised as to whether mammography screening should begin in the forties or be started after the age of fifty. A governmental task force has suggested that women wait until age fifty to begin screening for cancer using mammograms. Now, a new study suggests that for some populations mammograms may increase the risk of developing breast cancer in the first place. Do mammograms cause breast cancer?

What a New Study Shows

According to a new study published on the Medscape website, women who are already at high risk of breast cancer due to genetic mutations may be placing themselves at higher risk of developing the disease when they get early or frequent mammograms. To come to this conclusion, researchers did a meta-analysis where they looked at the results of six different breast cancer screening studies. They found that women who had a strong family history of breast cancer or who had a BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 mutation that increases the risk of breast cancer were at higher risk ( 2.5 times greater) of getting the disease if they began getting mammograms before the age of twenty.

Women who have genetic mutations such as BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 that increase their risk of breast cancer usually begin mammography screening at a younger age since their risk of developing breast cancer is as high as sixty percent over a lifetime. Another analysis showed that high-risk women who received five or more mammograms before the age of forty-five were also at greater risk of developing breast cancer.

Do Mammograms Cause Breast Cancer in Women Not at High Risk?

It’s important to keep in mind that these studies don’t show that mammograms causes breast cancer in women not at high risk; and the researchers in this study emphasized that they don’t believe starting screening after the age of thirty puts a person at significantly higher risk of breast cancer. They suggested that women discuss with their doctors the possibility of getting them done every two years instead of yearly when screening is starting early since immature breast tissue is more susceptible to the effects of radiation.

Do Mammograms Cause Breast Cancer?

There doesn’t seem to be strong evidence that mammograms cause breast cancer in woman at normal risk who begin screenings at a later age. Women who are at high risk of breast cancer should talk to their doctor about using MRI instead of mammography for early screenings to reduce levels of radiation exposure. Breast ultrasound can also detect solid breast tumors, but isn’t approved for use as a cancer screen. Talk to your doctor about the frequency of mammography screening that’s right for you, but don’t ignore the importance of regular screening for breast cancer.