Health News
Breast Cancer Risk with Mammograms
June 27, 2006
A rather disturbing article published today in the Herald Sun says that x-ray breast exams may actually increase a woman's chance of developing breast cancer. If a woman has a family history of breast cancer, the radiation from the x-ray exam may increase her chance of developing the disease by fifty percent.
The risk is highest for those women who have had several x-ray exams and young women who have been given x-rays repeatedly to diagnose other health conditions.
In Britain's Journal of Clinical Oncology, cancer specialists said women genetically predisposed to developing the disease should consider asking for MRI scans, which do not use radiation, instead of mammograms.