Mammograms may significantly decrease breast cancer mortality

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

A recent study funded by the Norwegian Research Council and published in the BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) offered evidence that mammograms can provide significant life-saving potential. in this study, the researchers followed the data for Norwegian women between 50 and 79 over a 24-year period (ending 2009) coinciding with a national screening effort. Their model compared breast cancer mortality in those including in the mammogram program, versus those not included. They estimated that approximately 368 women needed to be offered a mammogram to prevent one death, results similar to previous study data. They determined that screening lowers the breast cancer deaths by roughly 28 percent.


Lars Vattan, a study author, has stated that the sensitivity of the screening is problematic, as benign tumors are often detected by the screening.