Newer research shows mammograms help

Re Mammogram Inc., Sept. 29

Before expressing her concerns about the over-promotion of mammography screening in the 1980s, I would have expected that Renée Pellerin would have brought forward several important facts.

First, there is indisputable peerreviewed evidence by internationally respected organizations that mammography screening contributes to the saving of thousands of womens’ lives each year from earlier detection of breast cancer.

Second, she could have pointed to recent studies such as that by Sparano et al. (2018) in the New England Journal of Medicine that found women with some cancers found small, through screening, can be spared the misery of chemotherapy or the need to remove the entire breast.

Instead, she chose to base her arguments on the opinions of people who have not done any research on breast cancer screening, but who nevertheless voice strong negative opinions, backed up by inaccurate numbers and obsolete or poor studies done 35 years ago, some which have been discredited by the scientific community.

Ms. Pellerin implies that industry promotes mammography to boost profits. That may be so, although it’s worth noting that mammography is one of the least lucrative medical imaging products.

Health providers in our Canadian nonprofit medical system recommend mammography screening because it helps reduce breast cancer deaths, as well as pain and suffering for women and their loved ones.

Dr. Martin J. Yaffe, breast cancer research scientist; professor, department of medical biophysics, U of T; senior scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute