health
Breast cancer patients fare better when mammography detects the disease
Posted March 12, 2012
Women in their 40s whose breast cancer is detected by mammography have a better prognosis than women whose cancer is identified by other means, according to a study in the March issue of Radiology.
Patients with mammogram-detected cancer were more likely to have a lumpectomy (67%) and less likely to have modified radical mastectomy (25%) than women who discovered the cancer themselves or whose doctor spotted the problem, data show. Among this latter group, 48% had a lumpectomy and 47% had modified radical mastectomy (link).
Women with mammogram-detected breast cancer also were less likely to die of the disease and have recurrences than those whose cancer was discovered another way. Researchers examined data on 1,977 breast cancer patients 40 to 49 years old who were treated between 1990 and 2008 at the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/03/12/hlbf0312.htm.
