Usefulness and risks of routine mammography for the detection of breast cancer

Abstract

It has been accepted that preclinicall detection of breast cancer by means of the routine practice of mammography could discover the disease at its initial stage; therefore, practicing a mammography annually became widespread as a preventive health measure to diagnose the disease and prevent death due to breast cancer. Over time, the benefit of detection tests has been questioned and demonstration of their benefit, as well as that of the undesirable effects they might cause, has been demanded. There is recent information with regard to an absence of difference in terms of breast cancer mortality as final index between women with or without routine mammography. Additionally, a 20 % frequency has been observed in false-positive diagnoses, with high numbers of women undergoing unnecessary diagnostic procedures due to suspicion of a non-clinically apparent presumed cancer. In Mexico, from 2004 on, the popularity of mammography to detect and effectively cure cancer has increased. Acceptance can be attributted to how easily detection campaigns can be promoted, since most women accept that mastography can offer the opportunity of receiving an early treatment that reduces dissemination and prevents early mortality. The age at which it is convenient to perform the first mammography, how frequently it should be repeated and even the age for its discontinuation is still under debate and no consensus has been reached.