Did you know that mammograms do not prevent breast cancer? In truth, they actually detect cancer that already exists. And while screening mammography* is currently the best tool we have for detecting breast cancer, it misses 20% of all tumors and women younger than 50 were even more likely to have a missed tumor.
Over the last 30 years, the promise of early screening to significantly reduce deaths from breast cancer has under-delivered. Nevertheless, “early detection” and debates over whether breast cancer screening does more harm than good continue to oversimplify and dominate the conversation.The truth about screening is more complicated.
BCAction believes that all women should have information about the risks and benefits of breast cancer screening technologies in order to make their own decision about breast cancer screening.
We are excited to present this webinar hosted by:
- Tracy Weitz, BCAction Board Chair and Director, Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), University of California, San Francisco and
- H. Gilbert Welch, MD, Professor of Medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Research and co-author of the study “Effect of Three Decades of Screening Mammography on Breast Cancer Incidence.”
During the webinar we will:
- Deconstruct the “early detection saves lives” mantra
- Analyze the benefits and harms of mammography
- Explain the effect three decades of screening mammography has had on breast cancer incidence
- Help to translate the science around overdiagnosis and overtreatment related to mammography
- Discuss what all this information means for you
Join us on Tuesday March 12th 1pm (PST)/4pm (EST) or Thursday March 14th 9am (PST)/12pm (EST) for this free webinar to learn about the risks and benefits of mammography and help inform a woman’s personal decision on timing and frequency of screening.
*Breast Cancer Action recognizes that mammograms have an important but fundamentally limited role and should be part of, not all of, a strategy to address the breast cancer epidemic.