Stop Squeezing So Hard: The Case for Rethinking Mammography
There’s a reason so many women dread mammograms—and it’s not just the awkwardness or exposure. It’s the pain. The compression is intense, bruising for some, traumatic for others. But what if the discomfort isn’t just a downside? What if it’s part of the problem? Emerging research is now suggesting something far more alarming: that the mechanical forces applied during traditional mammograms might actually contribute to cancer progression. A 2025 study in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology found that solid stress—compression like that applied during a mammogram—can cause aggressive breast cancer cells to become more invasive . The pressure activated inflammatory and migratory pathways inside the tumor, increasing the expression of IL-6 and SNAI1, proteins associated with metastasis. In other words, squeezing a tumor might not just hurt—it might help it spread. This is not just a laboratory concern. In a harrowing case report published by the BMJ Case Reports , a woman with n...