Mammograms Less Likely to Prevent Deaths

Due to recent advances in breast cancer screenings and treatments, mammography has become less crucial in detecting cancer and reducing deaths, researchers reported Wednesday. According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the death rate dropped just 10 percent following the usage of routine mammography in Norway. The Worth Health Organization had previously thought mammography reduced deaths from breast cancer by 25 percent. The decrease was “far less than we expected,” said Dr. Mette Kalager, a surgeon at Oslo University Hospital and the study's lead author. The study also found that the death rate among women over 70 who did not undergo mammography dropped by 8 percent, which suggests that mammography may have only helped reduce the death rate by 2 percent, according to Kalager. If the results from the study are confirmed, mammography could become more of a suggestion rather than a necessity—like PSA screening of men for prostate cancer. About 192,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year, and the disease will cause an estimated 40,000 deaths.