How an early breast cancer screening can slash risk of death by 40%
EARLY breast cancer screening can slash the risk of dying from the disease by more than 40 per cent, a study has revealed.
It could also reduce the risk of advanced breast cancer by a quarter. all women in the UK between the ages of 50 and 71 are invited for a mammogram every three years.
It allows doctors to use an X-ray to spot tumours in their early stages when they are too small to see or feel.
The latest study stresses the importance of taking up the invitation as it is crucial in improving survival chances.
Dr Laszlo Tabar, of Falun Central Hospital in Sweden, said: ‘Some may believe that recent improvements in breast cancer treatment make early detection less important.
‘our study shows that nothing can replace finding breast cancer early.’
The joint study with London’s Queen mary University calculated rates of advanced and fatal breast cancer in 549,091 Swedish women within ten years of diagnosis. It compared the rates in women who participated in recommended mammography screening to those who did not.
Researchers saw a 41 per cent reduction in fatal cancers in women who took up recommended breast screening.
and they found a 25 per cent reduction in advanced breast cancer in women who had the suggested X-rays.
Dr Stephen Duffy from Queen mary University said: ‘This study shows that participation in breast cancer screening substantially reduces the risk of having a fatal breast cancer.
‘Because the comparison of participating with non-participating persons was contemporaneous – with mammography screening and breast cancer treatment belonging to the same time period – it is not affected by potential changes in treatment of breast cancer over time.’
about one in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime in the UK and the likelihood of getting it increases with age. all women aged 50 to 71 who are registered with a GP are automatically invited for breast cancer screening every three years.
But there is currently a trial to examine the effectiveness of offering some women one extra test between the ages of 47 and 49, and one between the ages of 71 and 73. Discovering the tumour early reduces the likelihood of needing a mastectomy or chemotherapy – but it is not without its risks.
The main issue is that it sometimes picks up cancers that may not have caused any symptoms or become life threatening. Patients may end up having unnecessary extra tests and treatment.
The findings were published online by the journal Cancer. Screening for breast, bowel and cervical cancer has been formally ‘paused’ in Scotland, Wales and northern Ireland due to coronavirus.
Effectively, this is also the case in England because invitations are not currently being sent out from screening hubs. With around 200,000 women tested every week, Cancer Research UK has warned this will mean that a ‘significant number of early cancers will be left undetected’.
In Sweden, women are invited to screenings between the ages of 40 and 69, depending on the region.
The study authors concluded: ‘our evaluation of outcomes demonstrated that women who attended screening, and typically had their breast cancer diagnosed at an earlier stage, benefited substantially more from the state-ofthe-art therapy existing at the time of diagnosis and over the period of our analysis compared with women who did not attend screening.
‘Detection at an earlier stage through participation in mammography screening confers a significant reduction in the risk of death from breast cancer in this era when modern... therapies are available. The benefits of participating in mammography screening are truly substantial and save lives through early detection, lives that otherwise would have been lost.’
‘Lives that would have been lost’