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Will a Yale Study Cause Us to Rethink Breast Cancer Screenings
The emerging science of mammography would soon beat breast cancer.
That’s what Dr. Donald R. Lannin, then a young breast surgeon, and others in the field believed in the 1980s. The mammogram, an X-ray picture of the breast, had recently emerged as a mainstream procedure. In October 1985, the American Cancer Society and other organizations designated October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the importance of early detection through regular screenings for women beginning in their 40s was taught to the public.
In the decades since mammogram screenings became more mainstream, Lannin says although the number of small breast cancers diagnosed has gone up dramatically, decreases in deaths from breast cancer have not kept pace.
“I’ve realized that early detection is really only a minor benefit; it’s probably some benefit, but it’s pretty small,” says Lannin, now a professor of surgery at the Yale School of Medicine.
Source: Connecticut Magazine