Pair of studies show missed mammograms increase risk of late-stage diagnosis

Mammogram showing
suspicious lesions

A pair of studies of mammography utilization show that women who missed mammograms tended to be diagnosed at a later stage. 

In a single institution study in the Nov. 2013 American Journal of Roentgenology researchers found that, regardless of age, women who underwent mammography were more likely to have early-stage breast cancer at diagnosis than were those who did not undergo mammography. 

In an earlier study analyzing treatment failure among 7,301 breast cancer patients in the Sept. 9, 2013 Cancer, Harvard researchers found that among the 609 breast cancer deaths, 65 percent had never had a mammogram.