Some women benefit from frequent mammography

Mammography for breast cancer screening

03/23/2014

As British researchers report, some women should be more likely to undergo mammographic screening than is the case in various European programs. This was the result of a study that was presented on Friday.

More often for mammography than intended
British researchers reported at the ninth European Breast Cancer Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, that some women should attend post-mortem check-ups more often than those provided for in appropriate programs. In the United Kingdom, for example, around 30 percent of women could benefit from a more frequent examination than every three years. In the UK, there is a breast cancer screening program for all women aged 47 to 73 years, with mammographic intervals every three years. In Austria, at the beginning of this year, a program was launched with two-year intervals with automatic invitation for women between the ages of 45 and 69. In Germany too, there is an interval of two years for women between 50 and 69 years.

Investigations every three years at 70 percent effective
By assessing breast tissue density and assessing risk factors for breast cancer, Gareth Evans from the University of Manchester has given a total of 53,467 subjects a more accurate picture of harm since 2009 and compared the number of cases. In the United Kingdom, it is estimated that the risk for women between the ages of 47 and 73 to have breast cancer varies between 2.4 in the younger and 3.5 percent in the elderly. Of the 36,748 women who, according to the risk assessment, had an average or below-average breast cancer risk, there were 45 lymph node infections within four years, three cases per 100,000 and year. However, the incidence was three times higher for women with an above-average risk, with eleven cases per 100,000 people per year. According to Evans, the results indicate that screening is effective every three years in around 70 percent of women.

Some women should go to mammography annually
However, the authors of the study also believe that more frequent investigations are likely to be needed for women at higher risk. For a small proportion of women with a high risk of eight percent within ten years, there should even be a mammogram every year. As part of the mammography screening program in Austria, attempts are being made to address the problem of dense breast tissue, which is not easily examined by the mammographic X-ray examination, by means of an ultrasound examination which is immediately carried out in case of doubt.

Regular exercise reduces breast cancer risk
The conference also presented a meta-study with joint analysis of scientific studies on lifestyle factors and breast cancer. Mathieu Boniol, the director of the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon, France, said the data from a total of four million women was re-evaluated. It was found that regular physical activity is a protective factor regardless of age. The most athletic women had a twelve percent lower risk of breast cancer than those with the least exercise.

Check-up does not preventively work
Experts have been arguing for a long time about the pros and cons of so-called check-ups. Juergen Windeler, a physician and director of the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care, criticized IQWiG in Cologne „Germany radio culture“, that alone is the term „screening“ is wrong: „Because you just can not prevent a disease by such investigations, but only determine if you have them.“ Just recently, a survey found that 30 percent of women believed that even participating in mammography screening prevented them from developing breast cancer. However, unlike other studies, the best data for breast cancer screening are. Systematic screening would save five out of every 1,000 women from death from breast cancer.

Early diagnosis is extremely important
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), more than 70,000 women have a breast tumor per year in Germany. Around 17,000 women die from it every year. The RKI expects more than 75,000 new cases in 2014. The German Society of Senology (DGS) believes that about 80 percent of sick women today could be successfully treated. Breast cancer is no longer equivalent to a death sentence. However, a lot depends on an early diagnosis. (Ad)