MASON CITY, IA - A claim from a medical TV program is prompting doctors around the country to correct the information.
A recent episode of “The Doctor Oz Show” states women who get regular mammograms are at an increased risk of thyroid cancer. Doctors say that claim is not supported in scientific literature.
The amount of radiation the thyroid is exposed to during a mammogram is about the same amount as you get standing outside for half an hour.
“If a woman had a mammogram every year for 40 years beginning at age 40 the chance of her getting cancer from those mammograms is 1 in 17 million,” said Dr. Gary Swenson, director of breast imaging at Mercy Medical Center North Iowa.
Dr. Swenson says about one in eight women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.
For more information about mammograms you can visit the American College of Radiology website.
