No Easy Answers to Reduce Mammography Discomfort

Health professionals are seeking an answers to remedy one of the major issues that keep women from getting routine breast screening mammography. According to Dawn Miller, a physician and women’s health researcher at the Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago in New Zealand., many women will not go or return for a mammogram because of pain or concern about pain from screening.

Miller led a review which studied various interventions designed to reduce the discomfort of mammography. While no single answers resulted from the review, Miller did note that the better women were prepared for the study, the less discomfort was noted. She stressed that it should be routine practice for women to be well informed about the benefits of mammography, what is involved in the procedure and why, and the possibility of pain or discomfort.

Millers team explored seven randomized control trials and included 1600 women. Among the pain relief possibilities were written and verbal pre-exam information; the use of analgesics; and the use of breast cushions. The study was published in a recent issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration.

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