If women are screened for breast cancer every year, starting at the age of 40, their risk of mastectomy following breast cancer is considerably lower, researchers from The London Breast Institute, London, England, explained at the Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America - RSNA 2010.

In 2009, the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended screening women every two years from the age of fifty years. The American Cancer Society recommends a yearly screening from 40 years. The UK has no current guidelines for routine screening of females under the age of 50.

Lead author Nicholas M. Perry, M.B.B.S., F.R.C.S., F.R.C.R., said: "The results of this study support the importance of regular screening in the 40 to 50 age group. Women in this age group who had undergone mammography the previous year had a mastectomy rate of less than half that of the others." The authors explained that by the end of this year, approximately 207,090 people in the United States will have been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.

Dr. Perry and team set out to determine what the relationship might be between frequency of breast screening for women aged 40 to 50 and the type of treatment following a breast cancer diagnosis.

They gathered data on women aged 40 to 50 who had had a breast cancer diagnosis at The London Breast Institute and had treatment there too. They collected information on 971 women between 2003 and 2009.

40% (393) of the patients were under 50 at time of diagnosis. 156 of them completed their treatment at the Institute. 73% (114) of them had never been screened for breast cancer before. 42 had had a previous mammogram, of whom 29 had had at least one screening during the previous 24 months. 16 of them had had a mammogram during the previous twelve months.

Dr. Perry said: "We reviewed the records of the women needing mastectomy to determine whether or not they had undergone mammography the previous year. We were surprised at the degree of benefit obtained from yearly screening in this age group." Of the 16 women who had been screened during the previous twelve months, 19% (3) of them required a mastectomy, versus 46% (64) of the 140 patients who had had no screening during the previous twelve months.

Dr. Perry said: "Regular screening is already proven to lower the chance of women dying from breast cancer. The results of our study support the importance of regular screening in the under-50 age group and confirm that annual mammography improves the chances of breast conservation should breast cancer develop." "Prior Mammography in Women Aged 40-50 at a UK Center in Accordance with ACS Guidelines Lowers Mastectomy Rate Following Breast Cancer"
Nicholas M. Perry, M.B.B.S., F.R.C.S., F.R.C.R, Sue Milner, B.Sc., D.C.R., Kefah Mokbel, M.B.B.S., M.S., F.R.C.S., Stephen W. Duffy, B.Sc., M.Sc., and Katja Pinker, M.D.
RSNA 2010
CODE: SSQ01-08 SESSION: ISP: Breast Imaging (Tomosynthesis and Digital Mammography)

Christian Nordvist