A recent article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that was printed in July this year says that it is being acknowledged by the world’s health agencies that they may have got it wrong when it comes to regular mammogram screening for breast cancer.

Commonly women are asked to start screening when they are 40 but it seems that this might be a complete waste of time and resources

Apparently the reason for this is that mammogram x-rays are not nearly sensitive enough to pick up signs of tumour growth in women whoa re screened in their 40s. It was researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that attempting to rely on this inadequate technology accounted for almost 80% of all cancers that were missed by the screening process. The reason for this is that in women aged 50 and under breast tissue, is just too dense for a mammogram to identify a tumour. Women over the age of 50, however are good candidates for mammogram screening with a better identification rate, although fast-growing tumours still prove very difficult to identify using this type of screening.

I find this a bit worrying as if this screening is not going to help then what will? On the other hand it is obviously not great to be feeling fine that we have had a clear mammogram result when we actually have cancer!