A recent extensive long term study published in the British Medical Journal on the risk/ benefits of mammogram reveal no benefit to the "average" individual. The purpose of the mammography on a routine basis was to detect cancers before they could be felt by routine examination. Turns out that quite a few of these early detected lesions leads to over treatment with unnecessary surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. This occurs in about 20-25% of these cases. Turns out that the mortality rate was unchanged by routine mammograms (versus those that got mammograms only when something was detected).
Home » Peña Plastic Surgery Blog » Routine mammograms no longer a “no brainer”