Researchers Question Mammograms For High-Risk, Younger Women

December 1, 2009 7:35 a.m. EST

Chicago, IL (AHN) - Low-dose radiation emitted from annual mammogram screenings could increase the risk of developing breast cancer in some high-risk women, researchers said at a national health conference this week.

Marijke C. Jansen-van der Weide, an epidemiologist with the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, said in a statement released at the annual Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago, that careful consideration should be given when weighing mammogram testing for high-risk women under the age of 30.

Van der Weide said it is important that young women who have a familial or genetic disposition to breast cancer get tested earlier than women at average risk, but alternative screening methods should be considered because the benefit of early tumor detection could be offset by the potential risk of radiation-induced cancer.

Alternative screenings include ultrasounds and magnetic resonance imaging.