article_snippet.sent: Breast cancer screening was introduced in 1988, with women aged 50 to 64 invited for a mammogram every three years.
article_snippet.sent: MPs are warning that women will die as a result of the screening age limit.
article_snippet.sent: From the end of 2016, all women up to 73 will be invited for screening.
article_snippet.sent: Ending screening at 73
article_snippet.sent: Yet the benefits of extending screening are not clear-cut, for there is a risk of women undergoing unnecessary treatment.
article_snippet.sent: A Dutch study, published in the BMJ in August 2014, suggested that inviting all women over the age of 70 for screening could result in 'over- diagnosis and overtreatment'.
article_snippet.sent: Researchers monitored 25,500 women aged 70 to 75 diagnosed with the disease after 1995, when breast cancer screening in the Netherlands was extended from 69 to 75.
article_snippet.sent: Rather than simply ending screening, the Dutch researchers who suggested that extending the programme to all older women could do more harm than good, say the decision whether to continue scans should be personalised to each woman.
article_snippet.sent: Another way forward, says Jane Murphy, is for women to be reminded at women last screening that women are entitled to further ones. '
article_snippet.sent: women should be given a card that informs women that women can continue to take advantage of regular screening.
highlights_snippet.sent: MPs warn that women will die as a result of the screening age limit .
  