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HHS Affirms Value of Mammography for Detecting Breast Cancer by Unknown
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson on 2-21-2002 announced an updated recommendation
from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) that calls for
screening mammography, with or without clinical breast examination, every
one to two years for women ages 40 and over. This recommendation affirms
HHS' existing position on the value of mammography.
"The federal government makes a clear recommendation to women on
mammography: If you are 40 or older, get screened for breast cancer with
mammography every one to two years," Secretary Thompson said. "While
developing technology certainly holds the promise for new detection and
treatment methods, mammography remains a strong and important tool in the
early detection of breast cancer. The early detection of breast cancer can
save lives."
The USPSTF published two earlier breast cancer screening recommendations, in
1989 and 1996, that both endorsed mammography for women over age 50. The
USPSTF is now extending that recommendation to all women over age 40, but
found that the strongest evidence of benefit and reduced mortality from
breast cancer is among women ages 50-69. The recommendation acknowledges
that there are some risks associated with mammography (false-positive
results that lead to unnecessary biopsies or surgery), but that these risks
lessen as women get older.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has also reaffirmed its support for
mammography. "Early detection of cancer saves lives and we continue to
recommend mammography for women in their 40s and older," said Andrew von
Eschenbach, M.D., director of the NCI. "While we seek improved methods of
diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, today mammography remains an
important part of our effort to save lives through early detection."
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States. In
2001, an estimated 192,200 women were diagnosed with breast cancer, and
40,600 women died from the disease.
In addition to age, other factors may increase a woman's risk of breast
cancer. The strongest risk factors are a family history of breast cancer in
a mother or sister, having already been diagnosed with breast cancer, or
having had a previous breast biopsy showing atypical hyperplasia (an
irregular pattern of cell growth).
"Mammography is an important tool for detecting breast cancer," said Janet
Allan, Ph.D., R.N., vice chair of the USPSTF. "Clinicians and women should
discuss individual risk factors to determine when to have a first mammogram
and how often to have them after that."
Today's USPSTF recommendation results largely from the review of eight
randomized controlled trials of mammography (four of mammography alone and
four of mammography plus clinical breast examination) that have reported
results with 11 to 20 years of follow up. These studies have all been
published since the task force last addressed this issue in 1996.
The USPSTF also noted that there remains insufficient evidence to recommend
for or against routine clinical breast examination alone as a screening tool
for breast cancer and insufficient evidence to recommend for or against
routinely teaching or performing routine breast self-examination. While
these techniques detect some additional cancers, there were not enough data
to determine whether they reduced deaths from breast cancer.
The USPSTF, the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in
prevention and primary care, is sponsored by HHS' Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ) and conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of
scientific evidence for a broad range of preventive services. The breast
cancer screening recommendation and materials for clinicians and patients
are available on the Web at
http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/3rduspstf/breastcancer/ (see link on right hand side of this page) or by calling AHRQ's
toll-free information clearinghouse at 1-800-358-9295.
A webcast of today's HHS announcement press conference will be made
available by kaisernetwork.org, a free service of the Kaiser Family
Foundation, after
5 p.m. today at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/healthcast/hhs/21feb02 (see link on right hand side of this page). This article appears in the following topics:
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