Study: Mammography screenings responsible for causing more mastectomies and breast cancer

Study: Mammography screenings responsible for causing more mastectomies and breast cancer

Sunday, May 08, 2016 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

Tags: mammography, breast cancer, false diagnosis

Mammography

(NaturalNews) The theory upon which the cancer industry bases its endorsement of mammography alleges that the screening, which involves a blast of radiation directly into the breasts, helps to detect breast cancers early, and helps women avoid mastectomies.

However, a Norwegian study published in the British Medical Journal says that mammography actually causes more mastectomies -- and more breast cancers -- than if women were to avoid the screening altogether.

For their study, Pal Suhrke and his team of researchers evaluated national cancer data on more than 35,000 women between the ages of 40 and 79. Compared to women in a slightly younger age grouping that did not undergo mammography, the mammography group was found to be 31 percent more likely to have a mastectomy.

During the years when breast cancer pre-screening was introduced and when biennial screenings were encouraged, mastectomy rates actually increased by nine percent in the 50 to 59 age group. Correspondingly, mastectomy rates dropped by 17 percent among women aged 40 to 49, and 13 among women aged 70 to 79, who did not undergo mammography.

Even more telling was the admission made by Suhrke, a doctoral candidate in the pathology department at Oslo University Hospital (OUH), that mammography screenings actually cause more cases of breast cancer.

"Since the introduction of screening is associated with a more than 50 percent increase in breast cancer rates (emphasis added), some of these women are treated by mastectomy," Suhrke is quoted as saying by US News and World Report. "For many, these results are surprising and disappointing because one might suspect that due to earlier detection of tumors, the number of women needing mastectomies would decrease."

The findings coincide with those presented back in 1995 in the UK journal The Lancet. Researchers wrote that "the benefit (of mammograms) is marginal, the harm caused is substantial, and the costs incurred are enormous" (http://www.naturalnews.com/033458_mammography_dangers.html).

And Dr. Mette Kalager, also from OUH, published a study in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine in 2010 highlighting how mammography increases risk of developing breast cancer.

Based on his team's analysis, the statistical equivalent of zero percent of women will avoid dying from breast cancer because of mammography, while as many as 40 percent will receive a false diagnosis. And roughly 20 percent will end up getting unnecessary biopsies as a result (http://www.naturalnews.com/029839_mammograms_risk.html).

Sources for this story include:

http://health.usnews.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/053935_mammography_breast_cancer_false_diagnosis.html#ixzz4868wWHjd