Study: Mammogram every other year may be enough
Most countries in Europe recommend every two years
Wednesday, December 15, 2004 Posted: 11:33 AM EST (1633 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Every other year may be enough for women over 50 to
have a mammogram, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

A study of nearly 8,000 women showed that those who let a two-year interval
slip in between mammograms were no more likely to have advanced cancer if they
did develop a tumor than women who had mammograms every year.

But in women in their 40s, when cancer may be more aggressive, there was a
higher risk that when a tumor was detected it would already be at an advanced
stage.

"Mammography screening may reduce breast cancer mortality by detecting cancers
at an earlier stage," Emily White of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
in Seattle and colleagues wrote in their report, published in the Journal of
the National Cancer Institute.

"However, certain questions remain, including the ideal interval between
mammograms," they added.

They studied women to see if those who only had mammograms every other year
were more likely to have advanced cancer when diagnosed. They compared 2,440
women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer after a two-year interval
between mammograms with 5,400 women diagnosed with breast cancer after a yearly
scan.

"In summary, we found little evidence that indicates that women who undergo
mammography screening every 2 years have an increased risk of late-stage breast
cancer compared with women who undergo annual screening, except for women in
their 40s," they wrote.

"However, because breast cancer incidence among women aged 40 to 49 years is
less than half that among women 50 years of age or older, the benefit of annual
screening for younger women is small and the cost per year of life saved is
high," they added.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends mammograms every one to two
years while the American Cancer Society recommends every year.

In Europe, most countries recommend that women be screened every two years and
concentrate their recommendations on women age 50 and older.

About 1.2 million people a year are diagnosed with breast cancer globally and
the disease kills 40,000 women and men in the United States every year.