Debate still rages over effectiveness of mammograms

TWO STUDIES published simultaneously in the US and Great Britain call into question the efficiency of screening mammograms for breast cancer.

These studies now join a debate that has been raging between specialists around the world.

The first study, led by Prof Philippe Autier from the Institute of Global Public Health, a joint health research initiative of Strathclyde University and the Lyon-based International Prevention Research Institute (iPRI), and Prof Peter Boyle, director of the University of Strathclyde Institute of Global Public Health at iPRI, was published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Their team used the results from a Swedish study conducted in the 60s and 70s that has served as a basis for the implementation of screening mammogram procedures for breast cancer in several countries, including England.

The Swedish study had concluded that early screening could prevent 20 % to 25% of fatalities due to breast cancer.

After analysis, today’s scientists declared that the methodology of the study was wrong and that those figures were much too optimistic.

In fact, they believe that any reduction of deaths is probably less than 10%.

Prof Richard Sullivan from the Institute of Cancer Policy, King’s College London, said: “At some point, Britain will have to review its policy and this will be one of the pieces. My feeling is, give it another two years and Britain may need to constitute another group in 2017.

“The screening debate is far from over.”

This stance is not shared by all though. Prof Julietta Patnick, director of the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, stated in 2012 that “inviting women aged 50-70 for screening reduces mortality from breast cancer by 20% and saves an estimated 1,300 lives a year in the UK”.

The second study was led by Prof Richard Wilson from Harvard, who, with his team, analysed data on more than 16 million women aged over 40 who resided in 547 different counties and reported to the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results) during the year 2000.

Of those women, 53,207 were diagnosed with breast cancer that year and followed for the next 10 years. Data analysis was performed between April 2013 and March 2015.

The results of the study, published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal, confirm those of the first study.

According to the study, “a 10percentage point increase in screening is associated with a 16% mean increase in breast cancer incidence. However, there is no commensurate change in 10-year breast cancer mortality”.

Even though the debate is ongoing between supporters of screening mammograms and sceptics, the number of studies that back up the efficiency of screening remains higher. – AFP-Relaxnews