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Three percent misdiagnosis in mammography screening
Although breast cancer is the cancer with the highest death rate in women in Germany, not all women go to mammography screening. According to experts, breast cancer can be successfully treated with early diagnosis in most cases. According to new data, there are only very few misdiagnoses or overdiagnoses in screenings.
Cancer with the highest death rate
Breast cancer is the cancer with the highest death rate among women in Germany. Every year, around 17,000 people die from it and around 70,000 fall ill each year. According to the German Society of Senology (DGS), about 80 percent of ill women today can be successfully treated. Much depends on an early diagnosis. Since 2002, women in this country have the opportunity to participate in the mammography screening for free. The investigation, which is carried out on special X-ray equipment, was for years considered the ultimate in breast cancer screening. But for years the controversy surrounding the pros and cons of the screening program has been controversial. As a new evaluation now shows, it comes in the screenings but rarely false diagnoses.
For years experts have been arguing over the pros and cons of breast cancer screening. According to recent data, there are only a few false diagnoses in the mammography screenings. (Image: Tyler Olson / fotolia.com) Only a few false diagnoses
In Germany, women between the ages of 50 and 69 can take part in the breast cancer prevention program free of charge. But only about every second goes to mammography screening. Often women are afraid of the examination - it is not completely painless. Although it is known that the examination does not provide any guarantee, more than 17,000 carcinomas were detected by mammography screening each year alone. However, it is often criticized that the examinations also lead to many overdiagnoses.
Apparently, this number is not that high. As the cooperation community mammography now announced in a press release, breast cancer screening in Germany seldom leads to false diagnoses. According to her, six out of every 1,000 women between the ages of 50 and 70 have been diagnosed with breast cancer by systematic X-ray examinations.
Doctors must be suspected of having breast cancer
"The mammography screening is repeatedly because of allegedly many false diagnoses in the criticism," said Vanessa Kääb-Sanyal, branch manager of the cooperation community mammography. But the annual evaluations would show that quality assurance is also effective in avoiding unnecessary false-positive findings.
"The doctors in the screening must pursue any reasonable suspicion of a breast cancer disease in order not to overlook a carcinoma. On the other hand, there are clear guidelines in the European guidelines for the number of supplementary screening tests, so as not to burden women unnecessarily. "All in all, only three percent of the regular participants received an incorrect tumor diagnosis. The results are based on the most recent annual report of the 2013 screening.
Tumors can grow between two examinations
Of the approximately 2.9 million women examined in 2013, 17,430 were diagnosed with breast cancer. Nearly 129,000 of them were previously re-invited to clarify a suspicious finding. The call for clarification is a shock for many concerned. In two-thirds of them, however, could be given after a short time by further investigations, for example, with ultrasound, all-clear. In around 35,000 women, however, the suspicion persisted, around half of which later received the diagnosis of breast cancer. According to Corinna Heinrich, spokeswoman for the cooperation community, the fact that only up to 80 percent - and not 100 percent - of breast cancer cases are detected during screening is due to the fact that tumors can grow between examinations every two years. Besides, they could also be overlooked.
Fewer women die from breast cancer today
The screening procedure, which was introduced nationwide between 2005 and 2009 in Germany, is controversial. After ten years at the earliest, safe results could be obtained as to whether women really have a survival advantage through the procedure. Although breast cancer incidence rates in Germany have risen sharply since 2005, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), they have fallen slightly since 2009, but have fallen slightly since 2009. "This indicates that in the first phase of the program, many tumors were detected much earlier than without screening," write the experts of the RKI. It is known that tumors in the age group of 50- to 70-year-olds are detected by the screening at an earlier and smaller stage than before the beginning of the screening. In addition, fewer women die of breast cancer today, despite a rise in the number of cases, than they did ten years ago, according to the RKI. Especially through advances in therapy, the chances of survival would have improved significantly. When screening, however, would be diagnosed with high probability, some tumors that would otherwise possibly have remained undetected throughout life and would cause no discomfort.
Experts estimate the radiation risk of X-ray examinations to be significantly lower than it was 20 years ago because of modern equipment. However, the question of whether the benefits of the study outweigh the risk of exposing predominantly healthy women to X-rays can not be conclusively answered. (Ad)