Women Are At High Risk for Breast Cancer
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Women Are At High Risk for Breast Cancer: A quarter of the women in the study who were offered the free screening test decided not to get it because they feel claustrophobic in the tunnel-like scanners. But many also said they declined because of costs involved if the test reveals something that needs to be followed up.
As a recent study showed, if 1,000 women began screening at the age of 50, and had a mammogram every year, only one would have her life saved through early detection and treatment of cancer by the time screening stops at the age of 70.
Without screening, four women would have died from breast cancer. With it, three would have done so.
And between 100 and 500 would have a false alarm, suffer worry, and need further tests before getting the all-clear. About half would undergo an unnecessary biopsy.
Here’s another example. The drug giant Pfizer claims, on the basis of a clinical trial, that its statin drug Lipitor reduces the risk of heart attacks in people with multiple risk factors - high blood pressure, high cholesterol or angina - by 36 per cent.
Berg said the study points to the need for alternative ways of screening high-risk women, including training more experts in breast ultrasound, a quicker, more convenient test.
More than 400,000 women in the world die from breast cancer each year.
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