Health
Screening Cuts Risk of Breast Cancer Death Almost in Half
In this Thursday, May 6, 2010 file photo, a radiologist uses a magnifying glass to check mammograms for breast cancer in Los Angeles. A big U.S. study published in the Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012 New England Journal of Medicine shows that mammograms have done surprisingly little to catch deadly cancers before they spread. At the same time, they have led more than a million women to be treated for growths that never would have threatened their lives. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
(CTV News) – Women who undergo mammography screening reduce their risk of dying from breast cancer by 40 per cent, an international study published in the United States showed.
Researchers reported that women aged 50 to 69 who received screening were 40 per cent less likely to succumb to the disease compared to women who were not screened.
Simply inviting a woman to undergo a mammography reduced her risk of death from breast cancer by 23 per cent, the researchers said in a study in the New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday.
Not all women act on the invitation, however.
“This important analysis will hopefully reassure women around the world that breast screening with mammography saves lives,” said co-author Stephen Duffy of Queen Mary University of London.
