Cancer Risks from Mammogram Screening

By David Liu and editing by Rachel Stockton

Most women may already know that their life-time chance of getting breast cancer is about 13 percent. And because the prognosis of the disease isn't that great, many rush to receive mammogram screening every year in hopes that if they find the disease early, they can get treated in a timely fashion, leaving them with a better chance of survival five years out.

There is no doubt that mammogram screening can help some women; however, there’s also no doubt that some women may suffer complications from the procedure. The problem is that no doctor knows in advance who will potentially benefit from a mammogram, and who will suffer from its ill effects.  All that can be said is that "Mammogram screening saves lives".

But screening per se poses a risk to the patient.  That is, mammography is based on x-ray radiation, which is recognized by the U.S. government as a cancer-causing agent or carcinogen.  Additionally, there’s no scientific proof that low doses of x-rays are absolutely safe; in fact, the risk is considered cumulative or additive.  Each tiny bit of damage to the genes will add up to boost cancer risk over the long haul.

John W. Gofman, M.D. Ph.D. a well known nuclear physician and scientist who passed away a few years ago, addressed the risk of mammogram screening in his 1996 book titled "Preventing Breast cancer".

Dr. Gofman said each exam requires two views of each breast and each view needs 0.1 rad of x-ray.  That means each breast will receive 0.2 rad.

He calculated the risk and found that of women aged 30 to 34 who receive five exams, about 5 out of 1000 will acquire radiation-induced breast cancer.  Of women aged 35 to 49 who receive 10 exams, slightly more than 5 out of 1000 will get radiation-induced breast cancer.  Of women aged 50 to 64 who get 15 exams, about 8 out of 1000 will develop radiation-induced breast cancer.