The controversy over breast cancer screening has been revived by two scientific studies which affirm that mammograms and MRIs do not prevent this pathology.
Professor Philippe Autier from the Institute of Global Public Health (United Kingdom) and the Institut de Recherche et de Prévention International de Lyon (France) have taken up the foundations of a benchmark study on breast cancer screening which showed that screening could prevent 20 to 25% of deaths from breast cancer.
The scientists said that “fundamental mistakes were made in the statistical analysis. In fact, the trials show that the benefit of screening was low, less than 10%, far from the 20 to 25% advertised ”. They affirmed that “the countries which had based themselves on the results of this study must rethink their prevention policies as regards breast cancer screening”.
The findings of this study were confirmed by an American study published in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers at Harvard University in Cambridge (United States) analyzed cancer data from SEER (“Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results”), involving more than 16 million women aged 40 years followed by 2000 to 2010 in the United States. The results of this study revealed that screening was not the effective solution to prevent breast cancer and limit deaths from this pathology.
“A 10% increase in screenings has been associated with a 16% increase in breast cancer diagnoses,” explains Professor Wilson. “However, no link between screening and reduction in cancer death rate has been found.”
In 2014, a canadian study also warned that the annual mammogram for breast cancer screening would cause too much overdiagnosis and would not reduce breast cancer mortality.
Read also:
Breast cancer: regular mammogram reduces risk by 40%
Breast cancer: bras suitable for women who have had a mastectomy
#boobsoverbellybutton: a hashtag to encourage breast cancer self-testing