Organized screening for breast cancer, carried out every two years, is not very popular. However, it has proven itself: more precise, less risky, it detects many tumors early on.
Organized screening celebrates its tenth anniversary, but remains quite unpopular. On the occasion of Pink October, associations, health agencies and government are joining together to send the same message: breast cancer screening is necessary. The campaign set up by the State in 2004 has proved its worth.
150 to 300 deaths averted each year
9 out of 10 women have already had a mammogram to identify a possible breast tumor. But more than a third of them do not take part in the screening campaign organized by the State, which targets French women aged 50 to 74, whose benefits are nevertheless recognized.
Each year, 50,000 new breast cancers are detected, one third of which is through organized screening. And in the vast majority of cases, it makes it possible to identify tumors even though no symptoms have appeared.
It is the regularity of the organized screening program that allows these good results. Indeed, it offers a mammogram every two years to the population concerned. In 17% of the cases detected in the participants, the tumor developed between two screenings. This makes it possible to treat them early, and therefore to heal them better. Thus, in 2012, 150 to 300 deaths from breast cancer were prevented.
Few overdiagnosis
Organized screening also provides a quality examination. Performed by a radiologist, the mammogram is interpreted by two different professionals. This double reading reduces the risk of overdiagnosis by 20%, and therefore of unnecessary treatment. The method also increases the number of cancers detected.
Another significant interest, the campaign promotes equal access to healthcare. Mammography is fully covered by Health Insurance, does not require any advance on costs.
As for the “against” arguments, which claim that organized screening increases the risk of radiation-induced cancer (caused by radiation), the figures show that they are relatively rare: they concern 1 to 20 women in 100,000.
The results of the campaign are so encouraging that health authorities are even considering extending organized screening to those under 50.
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