Super Savvy Style: Yearly Mammography Can Cause Breast Cancer

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Yearly Mammography Can Cause Breast Cancer

Posted by Carey Shawn at 10:57 PM Categories health is beauty

If you are a young woman with a high risk of developing breast, think again before having your yearly mammography.

photo by Meredith O’Shea

Mammography is used as a diagnostic tool to detect early cases of breast cancer. Ironic as it sounds, having mammography can actually increase breast cancer. Because mammography uses X-ray radiation to detect small tumors in the breast, the radiation may increase the possibility of developing breast cancer. This is especially true in young women having a yearly mammogram.

High risk young women have a 250% higher risk of developing breast cancer if they have a mammography or chest X-ray before they reach twenty years old.

This important research finding was revealed during the Radiological Society of North America 95th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting held last November 2009. A review of six studies showed that young women with genes predisposing to breast cancer (specifically the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes) had a 250% higher chance of developing breast cancer if they have had a mammography or chest X-ray before they were twenty years old.

It revealed further that having more than five mammograms also increased the incidence of breast cancer by 250%.

The review studied more than 9000 women with an average age of 45 years.

Mammography is more suited for older women with breast tissue having less density. Young women have greater breast density, making mammograms difficult to interpret. Coupled with the evidence that mammograms at an early age can lead to breast cancer, young women should find other ways to screen for breast cancer.

Breast self examination (BSE) is a better tool as it allows a woman to become familiar with the architecture of her own breasts. Once a change occurs, such as a new mass or a change in a pre-existing lump, the change is picked up immediately by a woman who has been doing BSE regularly. In addition, SBE does not expose a woman to radiation and is, therefore, safe.

For high-risk women who need diagnostic screening, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a better option. MRI uses magnetic fields, not X-ray, so a woman getting an MRI is exposed to absolutely no radiation.