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New Scientist: Blanket mammogram screening may not be as beneficial as previously thought. Looking at breast cancer screening results since the 1960s, Nancy Keating and Lydia Pace of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that the number of women saved per mammogram performed is actually quite small. Moreover, about half of the women who are screened will receive a false positive result, which can lead to unnecessary treatment. It is currently recommended that women aged 50 to 74 undergo screening every two years, and only those women who have a family history of cancer or other genetic risk factors should consider starting mammograms earlier or having them more frequently.
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Yearly mammograms may be unnecessary
2 April 2014