A false-positive breast cancer screening result could still give useful information

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-11-03 02:00

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A false-positive result from a mammogram might still give us information about future breast cancer risk, according to international researchers who say awareness and personalised surveillance should be put in place for women who get a false-positive result after breast cancer screening. They looked at data from almost 500,000 women in Sweden, 1,113 of which had a false-positive result after a breast cancer screening. They found those with a false-positive mammogram were more likely to have breast cancer (11.7% for those with a false-positive result compared to 7.3% for those without) for up to 20 years after the false-positive result. They also found a higher risk for death and large tumours, and found the risk was higher within the first four years of follow-up. There could be many reasons for this, according to the team, including small tumours being missed at the previous mammography, or increased breast density, which increases the risk of breast cancer as well as false positive results. Women with false positives were more reluctant to return for screening, which may also affect risk, the team add.