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X-ray screenings designed to give early warning of breast cancer do not endanger women who have genetic mutations which make them more vulnerable to the disease, a study says.
Women are generally advised to have mammograms annually from about the age of 40.
But women who carry mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which are known to boost the risk of ovarian and breast cancer, are advised to start the screenings much earlier, even as young as 25.
Mammograms entail a small dose of ionising radiation that, for the general public, is not considered dangerous. But some scientists have worried that it may be enough to trigger cell damage, and thus initiate cancer, among women with the BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants because these genes play an important role in cell repair.
The study, published on Wednesday by the specialist journal The Lancet Oncology, discounts this risk.
Canadian researchers looked through a cancer database compiled by six countries in North America, Europe and Israel.
They compared 3,200 women who had the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.
Half of the 3,200 had had breast cancer, and the other half had not. The two groups were individually matched for age and mammogram history.
No evidence was found that early mammography hastened the onset of the cancer.
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AFP 212033 GMT 03 06
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