Mammograms save lives
A staggering statistic!
A staggering statistic!
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay)
MONDAY,
Feb. 11, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Widespread mammography screening and
big advances in breast cancer treatment have saved hundreds of thousands
of American women's lives since 1989, a new study estimates.
Researchers
tracked 1990-2015 U.S. data on breast cancer deaths, along with general
data, on women aged 40 to 84. They found the number of breast cancer
deaths prevented during that time ranged anywhere from 305,000 to more
than 483,000, depending on different approaches to interpreting the
data.
They
then extrapolated those results out to 2018, and calculated the number
of breast cancer deaths prevented since 1989 at anywhere from 384,000 to
614,500.
In 2018 alone, between 27,000 to almost 46,000 breast cancer deaths were prevented, the investigators said.
The
findings should help reassure women who wonder about the value of
mammograms, said study author R. Edward Hendrick, of the University of
Colorado's School of Medicine in Denver.
Recent
studies "have focused media attention on some of the risks of
mammography screening, such as call-backs for additional imaging and
breast biopsies," he said. But those reports have also often neglected
"the most important aspect of screening -- that finding and treating
breast cancer early saves women's lives," Hendrick said.
Mammography
screening first became widely available in the mid-1980s. The new study
estimates that regular screening plus improved treatments cut the
expected rate of breast cancer death in 2018 by between 45 to 58
percent, according to the study published Feb. 11 in the journal Cancer.
"Our
study provides evidence of just how effective the combination of early
detection and modern breast cancer treatment have been in averting
breast cancer deaths," Hendrick said in a journal news release.
One breast cancer physician applauded the new research.
"We
have new immune therapies and improved surgical techniques that are
important advances against breast cancer," said Dr. Alice Police, who
directs breast surgery at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute in
Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.
"However,
the biggest factor in literally centuries to lower the mortality rate
from this devastating and extremely common disease is the humble
screening mammogram," she said. "Nothing else in detection or treatment
has even come close."
But Hendrick noted that only about half of U.S. women older than 40 get regular mammograms.
"The
best possible long-term effect of our findings would be to help women
recognize that early detection and modern, personalized breast cancer
treatment saves lives, and to encourage more women to get screened
annually starting at age 40," Hendrick said.
Dr.
Kristin Byrne is chief of breast imaging at Lenox Hill Hospital in New
York City. She agreed that, in keeping with guidelines from the American
Cancer Society, women aged 40 and over should consider getting regular
mammograms.
Byrne said the new study "is further evidence that early detection and improved treatment saves lives."
"Over
335,000 women were diagnosed with new breast cancer in the United
States in 2018," she noted, and "eight out of ten of these women have no
family history of breast cancer. "
According
to current American Cancer Society guidelines, "women ages 40 to 44
should have the choice to start annual breast cancer screening with
mammograms [X-rays of the breast] if they wish to do so. Women age 45 to
54 should get mammograms every year. Women 55 and older should switch
to mammograms every 2 years, or can continue yearly screening."
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on breast cancer.
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Tags: breast cancer, women's health
