Mammography & False Negatives

We’ve already discussed in our previous article an issue with false positives and overdiagnosis when it comes to mammograms. But if you receive a negative mammogram, don’t think that you’re in the clear, especially if you have dense breast tissue. Keep in mind, almost half of women are considered to have high breast tissue density.

According to the American Cancer Society, “screening mammograms do not find about 1 in 5 breast cancers.” These false-negative mammograms can give women a false sense of security, thinking they don’t have breast cancer when in fact they do. With mammograms missing about 20% of breast cancers that are present at time of screening, this can also lead to delays in treatment.

One cause of the false-negative results according to the American Cancer Society, is high breast density. Breasts contain both dense tissue and fatty tissue. Fatty tissue appears dark on a mammogram, whereas fibroglandular (or dense tissue) appears as white areas. Because fibroglandular tissue and tumors have similar density, tumors can be harder to detect in women with denser breasts.

Younger women are more likely to have denser breasts. As a woman ages, her breasts usually become more fatty, which lowers the chance of receiving a false-negative result. However, toxins inside the body like to be stored in fatty tissue which is why a breast cleanse is extremely important. The lymph system throughout the body is responsible for toxin and excess fluid removal and for the most part, the lymphatic system does a great job of accomplishing what it is designed to do. The problem is breast lymph need outside factors in order to be drawn up to the armpit or to the top of the sternum. Without this, many toxins stay put in breast tissue. These techniques can be learned in our Best Breast Health program.

So if mammograms miss about 20% of cancers and about 22% are over-diagnosed leading to unnecessary treatments, are mammograms really the best option?

Here’s a couple snippets taken directly from American Cancer Society, “Finding breast cancer early may not reduce a woman’s chance of dying from the disease.”

But doesn’t that contradict with the saying that’s used over and over again to market mammograms to women, ‘Early detection is the best prevention’?

Also, “Mammograms require very small doses of radiation. The risk of harm from this radiation exposure is low, but repeated x-rays have the potential to cause cancer.”

When the diagnostic tool causes the very thing that it’s meant to prevent, isn’t that a bit of a contradiction?

We’ll leave that to you to decide. In the meantime, read about this detection device which may just be the “single most important marker of high risk for the future development of breast cancer.”