Breast scans may give ‘false’ results

WOMEN on hormones or those who are thin or have had previous breast surgery are less likely to have breast cancer picked up by scans, a new study shows.

The research, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), monitored 122,355 women aged between 50-64 in Britain for a year. A total of 726 developed breast cancer, but only 629 had any sign of their cancer picked up by routine mammography. In the remaining 97, the screening had been negative.

Another 3,885 women with a positive scan result, which would suggest they might have cancer, did not develop any tumour.

When the researchers looked at the pattern of these “false” results, they found they were more likely to occur among certain groups of women. “Our results suggest that mammography may thus be less efficient in users of HRT, in women with previous breast surgery, and in thin women compared with other women,” said Dr Emily Banks, lead author on the paper.

Action Breast Cancer Project leader Naomi Fitzgibbon said: “we advise all women to continue to be breast aware between mammograms.

Anyone with cancer concerns can freefone 1800 30 90 40.