Advanced digital screening methods are now being used to detect certain types of breast cancer and could lead to fewer women needing invasive surgery or treatment.
The Irish Independent is reporting that BreastCheck, the service which offers free X-rays to women aged 50-64 years, said the numbers of women diagnosed with cancer that may not be invasive is on the increase.
This non-invasive cancer known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is on the rise because doctors are now able to indentify it but it also means that women who have previously been treated by the state may have received treatment they did not need.
“It is well recognised that low-grade DCIS may not progress to invasive cancer and its detection may lead to a certain amount of overtreatment,” said the Annual BreastCheck report.
Whatever your age, if you notice any changes in your breasts, contact your GP
“Doctors still cannot tell which case of DCIS will develop into invasive disease and which will not cause danger – so some women inevitably have treatment, such as chemotherapy, they do not need,” said the report.
The findings come in the wake of controversy in the UK last year when it was revealed that a large number of women underwent unnecessary treatment for DCIS.
The BreastCheck report also said that free mammograms were provided to 125,329 women aged 50-64 during the year, and 832 breast cancers were detected.
