A new study shows women who have their breast cancer detected by a mammogram are less likely to have their cancer come back in other parts of the body.
Researchers studied more than 2,500 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer 9.5 years ago. Results of the study show women whose tumors were detected by mammograms had a better disease-free survival than women whose tumors were detected by other means.Women with tumors that were not detected with mammograms had a 90-percent increased risk of having their tumor recur in other locations of the body. Cancerous tumor detection in mammography screening was a favorable prognostic independent of the number of axillary lymph nodes, the primary tumor size, age at cancer detection, and the histological grade.
Researchers say although newer screening techniques, such as breast magnetic resonance imaging, are being actively investigated, the above data suggest that mammography screening may be more than a useful, acceptable screening tool .
