Jan. 28, 2009 The risk of radiation-induced breast cancer may
outweigh the benefits of mammography in women under the age of
30 who carry a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2, according to a
mathematical modeling study. The general recommendation for
women who carry a mutation in BRCA1/2 is to start getting annual
mammograms as early as 25 to 30 years of age. However, it is not
clear whether the risk of radiation-induced breast cancer would
limit the benefit of early mammography. To estimate the impact
of early mammograms on overall breast cancer risk, Amy
Berrington de Gonzalez, D.Phil., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health in Baltimore, and colleagues modeled
excess breast cancer mortality following five annual mammograms
starting at various ages. The model indicated that women who
underwent five mammograms between the ages of 24 and 29 would
have an additional 26 breast cancers per 10,000 women due to the
radiation. Between the ages of 30 and 34 they would have an
excess of 20 additional cancers,