What are the primary health risks of getting a mammogram? Is there any professional consensus on when the benefits start to outweigh the risks?
A family friend of mine is concerned if his mother has breast cancer and I am asking this question on behalf of him. What are health risks of getting mammogram?
Answers ( 1 )
There are no actual health risks for getting a mammogram itself. Though the mammogram may miss catching some early cancer cells that can be hidden behind breast tissue, or deeper into the tissue. So, a false negative is the risk. And the mammogram may identify some cells that are not cancerous, so you may also get a false positive.
Two women close to me both got negative mammograms, multiple tests even for one, and both did actually have a growth. One, because she was stubborn and obstinate, refused to accept the negative result and had further tests done and found it. The other woman, my dear friend, the cancer was not found until too late, she'd had three total mammograms and the cancer was not found before it had metastasized throughout her body.. One survived, the other did not.
So, while the mammogram is currently the best test and is not a risk in itself, it may not catch every cancer. That's the risk. When cancers caught early are treated with more success, not finding it allows it to grow. At this time, the mammogram is considered the best test for finding cancer. But if there's a question, or doubt, then an MRI or Ultrasound would be a good follow-up.