Potential risks or harm from breast cancer screening

Mammograms remain one of the most effective methods of screening for breast cancer even though, as with any test, the results are sometimes imperfect.

The following is a list of concerns that some people have with this breast screening technique:

• Over-diagnosis - the concern here is that screenings are in a way, too effective at diagnosing breast cancer. The result is that even some non life threatening cancers are detected that otherwise would not have been diagnosed. However, since doctors are not yet able to accurately determine which cancers are life threatening and which ones are not, once detected, these non life threatening cancers still have to be treated. In a highly debatable 10 year study, it was suggested that for every 2,000 women that are screened for breast cancer, for every one person’s life saved ten women will undergo unnecessary treatment for breast cancer. However, other experts believe the figures are closer to four to five lives saved for every four to five unnecessary treatments.
• Unnecessary anxiety – Roughly 7 out of 8 women who are called back for additional screening because an abnormal growth was found in the breast as a result of the initial screening do not have cancer. Therefore the argument is that a great deal of unneeded stress is placed on these women.
• Harmful radiation – some women are concerned about the exposure to radiation from the x-rays used in the screening and worry that it may actually place them at a greater risk for getting breast cancer. However, the amount of radiation a patient is exposed to during the x-ray process is quite low and very unlikely to cause cancer.
• Screening errors – No screening procedure is perfect. Sometimes the screening process fails to detect certain breast cancers either because the cancer itself too small to detect or there may be a possibility of human error when reading the results.

Despite any shortcomings in the screening process, there is overwhelming evidence that breast cancer screening reduces cancer deaths as a result of breast cancer and most doctors believe that the benefits of early detection outweigh any downside effects.