Push on for regular scans

CANCER Council Victoria’s manager of cancer screening Kate Broun says women should rely on regular mammograms as the best tool for detecting breast cancer.
Ms Broun is urging all women to be aware of companies offering breast imaging services as a means of detecting cancer. “Here in Victoria, there is a growing number of companies promoting various breast screening technologies, which they claim can help find breast cancer,” she said.
“These services often target young women and are often aggressively marketed as being ‘safe’, ‘non-invasive’ and ‘comfortable’.” “Mammography is the only screening method for which there is top level evidence that it saves lives.”
“Our chief concern is a situation in which a woman relies on one of these unproven technologies and later develops cancer which is found too late for successful treatment,” she said. “While we acknowledge that mammography is not perfect, it is the most reliable and effective early detection tool we have for breast cancer.”
Women with questions about breast cancer can call the Cancer Council Helpline on 13 11 20.