Mammograms 'do not save lives’, according to study

Mammograms do not necessarily prevent breast cancer deaths, a new controversial study says.

The Canadian report - published in the British Medical Journal - analysed 90,000 women over almost three decades and found that yearly mammographic breast screening does not necessarily save lives.

However, Australian doctors say women should not stop being tested regularly just yet.

The women were aged 40 to 59 and analysed over 25 years – half the women in the study had annual mammograms, and the other half did not.

The study found that the death rates from breast cancer were the same, whether women had mammograms or not.

“It's a legitimate study that needs to be taken into account, but if you only quote that study then you're ignoring all the positive studies,” Chief Executive of Cancer Council Australia Professor Ian Olver said.

The study has been criticised for not including women aged 60 to 75, who have the highest rate of breast cancer.

“It's a different population to Australia – they were younger patients, it was comparing it to breast self-examination rather than no examination at all, so it's a different setting,” Professor Olver said.

Breast cancer survivor Sally Obermeder and host of Channel 7 program Daily Edition says she ‘would be dead’ if she did not have a mammogram.

“I detected mine myself, then I had a mammogram and it was picked up, and it had grown to a stage 3 cancer in under 3 months,” Sally said.

“Now, imagine if I had just left that and thought, ‘Don't worry about a mammogram’ – I would be dead.

“What worries me is that a lot of people will hear the headline and think, ‘You know what, I won't bother with my mammogram’,” she said.

The study also found one out of five cancers detected via mammography were over-diagnosed and treated with chemotherapy, radiation or surgery when it was not needed.

BreastScreen Australia stresses that carrying out biennial mammograms of women aged 50 and over can reduce death by one third.

“Breast self-examination waits until a lump has formed before you can feel it – mammographic screening picks it up before it becomes big enough to feel, so you can detect it far earlier and it's far easier to treat,” Professor Olver said.

The best advice for women aged 50 to 74 who have the highest risk of breast cancer, and younger women who have a family history of breast cancer, is to keep having mammograms every two years.